Something Real
by KAPACHIJIMU
Summary: After the FFVIII storyline, Seifer finds himself trying to pick up the broken pieces of his life. Just as he thought the worst was over, his struggles continue as emotional journeys, which shape Seifer's life in ways he never could have imagined.
1. 1

As the night went on, Diehard had learned about what Selphie had proposed to Seifer. Diehard had no problem with Selphie at all, in fact he admitted on many occasions that Selphie wouldn't be a bad girl for him. The only obstacle in their way was Cody. Cody was very sensitive about his sister, especially since Irvine broke her heart. Of course, she recovered from their break up, but Cody never did. Never fully, anyway.

"Cody would kill me." Diehard debated as Seifer and he walked out of Quistis' class on their way to the training room.

"He _couldn't_ kill you." Seifer said, "You could kick his ass."

"I _know_," Diehard said, swinging his weapon of choice on his finger Diehard wielded a spike-chain link with a large steel head lined with diamond spikes. He allegedly smuggled it from some foreign island before he came to the Garden, "but I'd hurt Cody's feelings."

"Who the fuck cares about Cody's feelings?" Seifer asked honestly, opening the doors to the training area.

"Well, I do," Diehard said meekly, "Well, sort of."

Seifer walked slowly, looking for something that he could fight.

"But do you think that I should?" Diehard asked, obviously not wanting Seifer's answer.

"Yes." Seifer replied anyway.

"But this is Cody, you know?" Diehard continued, "He's like our bro. I can't do him like that, that'd be lame."

"You're starting to sound like one of Zell's air boarder buddies." Seifer said.

"Sorry." Diehard said meekly, "But you got to admit, it's pretty low."

"Yeah."

Finally, as Seifer spotted a creature, he heard a soft moan come from further down the place. Diehard looked at Seifer with a confused look.

"What is that?" Seifer asked. Just as he was about to go find out, a plant-like monster came out of nowhere. Seifer sighed, fiercely chopping it with his gunblade.

The monster fainted with the one shot.

"Plant monsters are always the first to die." Seifer said, inspecting some green slime the monster had left on his gunblade.

The moaning continued. Seifer and Diehard listened closely to see if it would continue. It continued, seeming to increase as time went on.

"Who do you think it is?" Diehard asked.

"Not Cody." Seifer said, chuckling to himself.

"Don't be a jackass," Diehard said, "It's obviously a girl."

"I'm sure Zell could make his voice get that high. Just go behind him and say 'boo'."

Diehard and Seifer slowly began to approach where the sound came from. All of a sudden, they heard the rattling of the fence that marked the end of the training room territory.

Diehard flinched, looking in the direction. Just as Diehard and Seifer were about to take another step, they were tapped on the back. Diehard flinched again, grabbing Cody by the neck and throwing him to the ground.

"Shut up!" Seifer, who didn't notice Cody's tap, said. Diehard got off the ground and helped Cody get up. Cody listened closely as he noticed Seifer and Diehard were.

"What are we listening for?" Cody asked in whisper. Just after he asked, the moaning continued.

"Oh, that right?" Cody asked. Diehard and Seifer both nodded exasperatedly. The three of them crept closer and closer until Seifer stopped.

"What?" Cody and Diehard asked.

"I know what's going on here." Seifer said, a snide smile appearing on his face. He pointed to an exposed boot on the ground next to a large group of bushes near the fence.

"That boot could only belong to one person." Seifer said, taking large, quiet steps over to the collection of tall bushes. He summoned a magic power, burning the top of the hedges.

"Oh my God!" Diehard and Cody exclaimed. Squall and Rinoa were unveiled. Squall turned around in horror. His gloved pointer and middle fingers were wet and Rinoa was half naked.

"Well, well, well," Seifer said, crossing his arms and smiling as Rinoa scrambled to get dressed, "Look who's too good for a dorm room?"

"Seifer you idiot, what the fuck are you doing here?" Squall asked through clenched teeth, extremely embarrassed.

"This is a public training room, isn't it?" Seifer asked. Diehard and Cody were still in shock.

"YOU WERE FINGERING HER, MAN!" Cody said in shock, scratching his head.

"Just get the fuck out." Squall said angrily.

"Ok, we'll leave." Seifer said, putting his arms around the shoulders of his friends.

"Why didn't we take pictures?" Cody asked angrily.

"Because that would make this blackmail just too sweet."

Just as Seifer left the training room, he reached into his pocket and located the note that Summer had left him the day before. He had been so nervous the previous day that someone would see him reading the note that he ultimately forgot that he had it at all. He held it between his fingers.

"Hold on guys," Seifer said, stopping in his tracks.

"What is it?" Cody asked.

"I have to...have to..." Seifer stammered, looking for somewhere to go where he could read the note. All of a sudden, he noticed a bathroom, "Take a serious piss."

Seifer ran into the bathroom, followed a little later by Diehard and Cody. Seifer opened the letter in one of the stalls. The ink was a bit smeared, but the letter was still legible.

"Meet me at the Quad at 7. I'd like to know you a little better." Read the letter.

Seifer looked at his watch nervously. It read "7:15." Panicked, Seifer rushed out of the stall and left Cody and Diehard at urinals. He rushed over to the Quad as fast as he could. It was the first time he could remember himself running in years.

As Seifer was running, he hit into Squall Leonhart's shoulder.

"Sorry, Leonhart." Seifer said. He tried to keep running, but Squall grabbed his arm.

"I'm tired of you messing with me." Squall said angrily.

"Not now, Leonhart," Seifer said, pulling his arm back, "Can't you go finger your girlfriend or something? I'm busy?"

With that comment, Squall punched Seifer clear in the face. Seifer stumbled back, but just as he was about to return a blow, Quistis and Rinoa ran to break up the fight. Seifer looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Diehard and Cody running towards him.

"Seifer, how many times do you have to learn?" Quistis asked.

"That bitch started it!" Seifer yelled, trying to charge at Squall. Diehard had Seifer braced in his arms, holding him back from rushing at Squall. He softly whispered into Seifer's ear, trying to calm him down.

"He started it!" Seifer said through clenched teeth to Diehard. Squall gulped, looking angrily at Seifer. Rinoa was on his arm, terrified. Seifer, Diehard, and Cody knew why.

Seifer smiled menacingly, throwing Diehard off him and saying loudly, "He's just mad because I caught him feeling his girlfriend out in the training area!" Rinoa ran down the hall, crying in embarrassment.

Quistis looked at Squall in disbelief for a second. Seifer smiled, breathing heavily.

"Don't mess with me again, Leonhart," Seifer said, wiping a trail of blood from his mouth, "Because I will kick the mother-loving shit out of you if you do." Summer had popped back into Seifer's mind. He looked at his watch quickly. It read "7:37."

"Holy shit! Now I'm late!" Seifer exclaimed continuing to run. Cody tried to run after him, but Diehard grabbed his arm.

"Sorry about this," Diehard said to Quistis, "He's kind of in an emotional fix."

"I know," Quistis said, "I just wish he felt he could confide in me. How can I help him if he doesn't want to tell me anything?"

"Maybe it's not you he has to confide in." Cody said, eyeing her angrily, "You're not the only one who can help him. Hell, maybe he doesn't even need help! Maybe some breathing room." Cody sighed, flashing Squall a dirty look. "And he won't get it with this one always around."

"He messes with me." Squall said, his temper suppressed.

"It's not his fault if you set yourself up for some primo blackmail!" Cody said.

"Stop!" Quistis said, "This isn't going to solve anything. Squall, please go find Rinoa and help her out. I also think it's best if you give Seifer, as you said, some breathing room. Maybe he just wants to be alone. You two seem to hover over him a lot."

"Because we're brothers!" Cody said, "We have to look out for each other!" Diehard looked at his feet, remembering how Seifer referred to Cody's feelings in the training area. He put his arm around Cody's shoulders.

"Maybe she's right," Diehard said softly, "Let's just give Seifer some room." Cody looked at Diehard suspiciously.

"Fine."

Seifer arrived at the Quad as fast as he could, but he wasn't fast enough. He saw the quad empty.

"She left." He said to himself. He closed his eyes and put his hands to his face. He concentrated on the colors that were burned onto his retina.

"Who left?" a voice asked from outside the quad. Seifer perked up when he heard the voice, but he sulked back down when he realized it was Quistis'.

"What do you want?" Seifer asked, "As if I didn't already know."

"Why can't you just talk to me?" Quistis asked her voice sincere.

"Because you wouldn't understand a thing that is going on in my head." Seifer said angrily, walking to the balcony. The sky had gotten dark and stars shown in the sky. He leant down on the ledge, looking down and seeing water pass.

Quistis walked up next to him. For a while there was a long silence. Seifer's mind raced with thoughts about Summer. How he had wanted to see her. He thought of how stupid she must have thought he was. His heart began to sulk as it had a few days ago.

"You know, this reminds me of something." Quistis said. She waited for Seifer to ask "what," but he never did. "That night of the SeeD ball...Squall and I were on this balcony."

"Squall?" Seifer grunted, looking forward, "What were you talking about?"

"I was asking him why he was paying more attention to Rinoa than he was to me." Quistis stated matter-of-factly. Seifer was a bit shaken by this, but he didn't change his expression.

"I never understood why he was so cold towards me," Quistis said, looking up at the stars, "It's kind of weird that I'm trying to get you to do the same in this same place."

"What," Seifer asked, looking at her, "You want me to pay more attention to you than I do Rinoa? Because I don't like either of you."

"Not pay more attention to me, per say," Quistis said, continuing to look at the stars, "Just try to tell me what's been bothering you. Believe it or not, I think I can help you."

Seifer sighed, looking back out at the stars.

"Why would you want to help me, anyway?" Seifer asked, his voice strained with sadness.

"Because I know people like you. I believe I'm like you, just not so forward." Quistis said, looking down at the railing.

"Forward?" Seifer asked, "What do you mean?"

"It's just when I get mad I don't show it," Quistis says, "And when I've been hurt I hide it." She looked at Seifer and their eyes met. Seifer for the first time noticed how beautiful a woman Quistis actually was. She was only eighteen years old, but she seemed so much older. It only at this moment occurred to Seifer that he wasn't talking to a superior, but to a peer of his own age. Quistis looked down in embarrassment as Seifer's blue eyes began to get wide at his realization.

"We're not so different." Quistis said. A cool breeze came by, but the cold didn't seem to bother Quistis. "I don't want to be forceful, but..."

"Have you ever felt like you were in love?" Seifer interrupted, leaning his elbows on the ledge.

"Yes." Quistis said softly. She chuckled to herself, "It was so magical. I felt like it could have worked, too."

"What went wrong?" Seifer asked.

"What _didn't _go wrong?" Quistis said, with a chuckle, "I went wrong, he went wrong...and she went wrong."

"Oh." Seifer said, looking at a collection of stars.

"I always said that if it weren't for Rinoa Heartily, I could have made Squall find his smile."

Seifer laid on his bed, his eyes wide awake. His mind raced with thoughts about Quistis' nostalgia had a strange effect on Seifer. How could he have ever guessed that Quistis could feel love for someone else, let alone Squall Leonhart. The fact that another human being could love someone like Squall was beyond Seifer's train of thought. It seemed like there wasn't enough attention span length in anyone to stand to contemplate that issue.

Seifer began to regret how he had been so disrespectful to Quistis. Not because she was his teacher, but because he realized that she wasn't just a teacher, but indeed she was his peer and she _did _have feelings of her own. There had always been the joke that teacher's were emotionless and that they lived in the school as Seifer was growing up, as most kids had heard.

_I guess that idea had stuck with me longer than I could have ever imagined... _Seifer thought to himself, _and to think that it would come back to plague me... Damn, I'm complicated. Maybe I could use some help..._

During a mid thought about Summer, there was a knock on Seifer's door. Seifer looked at his bedside clock. It read "2:15 A.M."

_Who the hell could be at my door at this hour? _ Seifer thought to himself. He walked up to the door and opened it. Rinoa appeared at his door, meekly waving at him with a cupped hand.

"What do you want from me?" Seifer asked angrily.

"Can I come in?" Rinoa asked.

"No." Seifer said bluntly, "Now what do you want."

"Why can't you just let me in? I don't want to talk about this in the hallway." She said nervously.

"Fine, girlie," Seifer said, "Come on in."

Rinoa came in and sat on Seifer's bed gracefully. Seifer shut the door quietly, then turning to Rinoa with crossed arms. He was wearing a small white t-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms.

"I need to talk to you about what you saw in the training area." Rinoa said earnestly, biting her bottom lip.

"Oh, yeah." Seifer said, "Wait, what happened again?"

"Stop it, Seifer!" Rinoa said angrily, "What happened to that nice guy I met at Garden? You were so polite then? What happened since?"

"I found out that you were the type to fall in love with someone like Squall Leonhart." Seifer said bluntly.

"How could you see that just from the short time we spent together?" Rinoa asked angrily, "There is no way someone like you could feel anything but anger!"

"Someone like me, huh?" Seifer asked, "You don't know a thing about me?"

"I know that you hate the man I love." She said softly, "That's something."

"Maybe one thing," Seifer said, "But it doesn't matter either way. If you want me to keep my lips shut about the whole thing, I guess I will, but only because I don't want you to have to endure the humiliation that Squall should be experiencing. Now can you get out?"

"And your friends?" Rinoa asked nervously.

"I'll tell them to shut up," Seifer said impatiently, "Now can you leave?"

"I didn't want to do it," Rinoa said, "He just kind of sprung on me...I couldn't tell him no..."

"Why not?" Seifer asked, "What was he going to do?"

"Break up with me." Rinoa said, her voice trembling.

Seifer sighed, walking to Rinoa and placing his hands on her shoulders. Rinoa felt Seifer's hands without gloves for the first time. They were surprisingly soft. She expected them to be rough and caliced.

"Don't let him take advantage of you." He said, talking down to her, "Even though I don't like you, I dislike him more than I do you. He' won't get away with anything, I promise you."

"Really?" She asked.

"Yes," Seifer said impatiently, "Now get the hell out."

"Ok." Rinoa said softly, getting up from Seifer's bed and making her way towards the door. She opened it softly.

"Uhm, thanks." Rinoa said meekly. Rinoa waited at the door for Seifer to say something, but Seifer kept silent. She closed the door quietly behind her. Seifer listened for her to be gone, and when her footsteps were out of reach, he shut his light and jumped on his bed. He hugged his pillow with his thick arms and let his mind race.


	2. 2

The next morning, Seifer woke up to rain. The hard drops hit his window with a tap that was just loud enough to catch Seifer's ears. It was a Friday, which meant that he had no classes. Most everyone else he knew did, though. He sat up in his bed and saw his clock. It read "9:43." This was earlier than Seifer was used to waking up, but he had no more desire to sleep as long as the rain was beating down on his window. As he drowsily walked to his closet to get dressed, he noticed his phone's message button was flashing.

He walked up to the phone and looked at it for a while. Not many people knew his number, mostly because he didn't want to risk getting it taken away. Slowly, he picked up the phone and hit the message button. While rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he heard the soft voice of Summer on the answering machine.

"Hi Seifer, it's Summer. I didn't know where you were when I asked you to come to the Quad, but when I saw the scene in the hallway I figured you got caught. No biggie, we can meet another time. I have classes tomorrow, but I'd love to get a yogurt or something if you want to. My dorm number is 703; feel free to stop by any time past 4, it's when my last class ends. Catch you later, Bye."

Seifer quickly erased the message, looking at the phone. He stared at the phone for a few seconds before he put it on the receiver.

"Yogurt?" he asked himself. He scratched his head in confusion.

Seifer got showered and got dressed quickly, but no sooner did he leave his room was Selphie on his back.

"Seifer!" She exclaimed, "I need some help getting the things together for my sleep over tonight!"

"And what does that have to do with me?" Seifer asked. Selphie smiled, going up to Seifer and taking his hand. She stared forward, as if she was looking into the sunset like in an old western movie.

"Seifer, how long have we been friends?" Selphie asked.

"We're friends?" Seifer asked.

"Oh come on!" Selphie begged, jumping up and down like a bratty child, "I _really _need help! I have no one else! Zell and Summer are coming later because they have class!"

Seifer's ears perked up when he heard Summer mentioned. "Fine, but I'm only helping with a little bit."

"Thanks!" Selphie shrieked, hugging Seifer. Seifer rolled his eyes.

"Which way is your dorm again?"

Selphie's dorm room was bigger than all the other dorms, and suddenly it made sense why she wanted to have a sleep over there. Her room was as big as a common room would be like in a fraternity house. There were already streamers, chips in bowls, and a bottle, obviously for "spin-the-bottle."

"Why is your dorm so big?" Seifer asked jealously, walking in and throwing his coat aside.

"Wow, you're a hunk!" Selphie said flirtatiously, looking at Seifer's bare arms, "I wouldn't mind having a piece of that."

"Thanks," Seifer said dryly, "You special or something with this dorm?"

"No, Rinoa and I share it," Selphie said to Seifer's surprise, "Since she's new here, the Garden didn't have any more dorms available. So until they get one for her, me and her get to share a big one."

"So I guess you know then." Seifer said, in reference to when Rinoa had come to him that morning.

"Know what?" she asked, standing on a ladder to put up some streamers across the ceiling.

"Oh," Seifer said, realizing she didn't know, "Forget it. It's not really important."

"Ok, whatever," Selphie said, grunting to reach the ceiling. Then, with a snap, the ladder broke, sending Selphie tumbling to the ground. Seifer ran and caught her just in time.

"Oh, baby." Selphie said seductively. Seifer dropped her on her back. "Ouchies!"

"Let's just get this over with," Seifer said, "What do you need me to do?"

"Well, just basically put up these posters." Selphie said, handing him rolled up posters. Seifer began to tape them to the wall when Selphie suddenly began to get interested in what Seifer had said before.

"So what were you saying before about me knowing something?" Selphie said, taking out sodas and beers.

"It's nothing, really." Seifer said, hiding his head as he hung up Selphie's party posters.

"Nothing, huh?" Selphie asked, "Then what if I said I _did _know. Would that change anything?"

"Huh?" Seifer asked in confusion, "That doesn't even make sense. If you knew you would have to ask."

"I thought maybe some reverse psychology would work, I guess not." Selphie said, shrugging her shoulders. Seifer continued to put up posters for what seemed like an hour until they were all up. Selphie had finished hanging streamers, banners, and setting up drinks and chips.

"You have plans for tonight with Diehard?" Seifer asked.

"OH MY GOD!" Selphie exclaimed, "You _actually_ asked him? You are such a _sweetheart_!" She ran to go hug Seifer, but he pushed her aside.

"Just because he said he wanted to," Seifer continued, "But he's afraid about Cody."

"Oh my God," Selphie said exasperatedly, "That little brother is holding me back from doing anything. Isn't that the big sibling's job, not the little one. Sure he's taller than me, but he can't boss me around!"

"He's just thinking about you," Seifer said menacingly, "Like a good brother should."

"I know," Selphie said, not catching Seifer's teasing, "I guess I should just deal with it. Hey, I mean he's doing it out of love."

Selphie walked over and stole a cheese doodle from a bowl on her desk.

"But then again," Selphie debated, "Diehard is a total _hottie_!"

"Yeah," Seifer said sarcastically, "I wish I had that ass."

"Oh, shut up," Selphie said, "That ass is mine. Hands off!" She pretended to swat at Seifer's hands. Seifer laughed to himself.

"Let's keep it that way, shall we?"

Seifer left Selphie's room at two thirty to go get something to eat before he would return to meet Summer at Selphie's dorm. Seifer could hardly wait. He hadn't blown it with her, yet, so in his mind there was still a chance to get with her. He was determined to not let her slip through the cracks like Rinoa did.

As he approached the cafeteria, he saw Quistis sitting alone at one of the tables where faculty members usually sat (the ones that didn't eat in their offices). Seifer approached Quistis' chair, asking "Need some company?"

Quistis looked up from her book and smiled at Seifer. "Please." She said, offering him a seat with a gesture of her hand.

"So how are you today?" She asked him. The rain had turned to thunder and the Garden seemed dark, and even though there were many lights on, there was a lack of natural light.

"As good as to be expected, yourself?" Seifer asked with a smile on his face.

"Fine." She said, folding the page in her book and placing it aside.

"Well, while you are here," Quistis said, taking some papers out of her bag, "I have to discuss something with you."

"What?" Seifer asked, looking at her bag. Quistis soon revealed the last essay that he wrote, along with Diehard's. She placed her glasses on her face and took out a red pen.

"I can't help but notice that your essay and Mason Dean's Diehard's real, full name are similar in many ways." She said, placing her pen on areas where she circled in red and wrote "same."

"What's there to say, I needed some help and he let me borrow his paper." Seifer said.

"_He_ let _you_ borrow _his_ paper?" Quistis asked, "I think it's the other way around."

"And why is that?" Seifer asked.

"Because you don't need a good grade as badly as he does. Mason is a brilliant fighter, but when it comes to studies he isn't as strong. I'm going to make him redo it; maybe you should let him know."

"Fine." Seifer said. Quistis put her papers back in her bag, placing her book back with them. She had a coffee in front of her, which she was constantly stirring.

"Uhm, do you think things would have worked out between you and Squall had Rinoa not been there?" Seifer asked in a soft voice. Quistis sighed, slowing down her stirring.

"I can't say that I believe it would have," Quistis said.

"But you said yesterday that you could have been the one to give him his smile." Seifer said.

"Impressive memory," Quistis said, "But, alas, I was just living in my own nostalgia. I know that he could never love me, and I don't know why I still love him.

"You _still_ love him?" Seifer asked. After a pause to process what he had just heard, he asked in almost a whisper, "Why are you telling me all this? Are you high or something?"

"Seifer," she said, after taking a sip of her coffee, "I've never done drugs before in my life and I never will. But, I think that if I want you to trust me, I should trust you. I don't just keep telling everyone about my personal life, and if my instincts are correct, you won't either."

"I'll consider it." Seifer said, with a smile.

"I trust you." She said, looking down at her coffee. She added some more sugar.

"I just want to tell you I think you're making a big mistake by loving Squall." Seifer said.

"Loving _who_?" Cody asked from a few tables back. Seifer and Quistis looked in horror. "Who's loving Squall?" Cody approached their table, looking at Seifer.

"I didn't say Squall, you idiot," Seifer said, "I said...Squaltair...Squaltair Yanstrovich, the famous poet. Quistis thinks he's good, but I know he's bad. Don't you agree?"

Quistis closed her eyes and sighed in relief. "You just can't appreciate fine poetry." She said, stirring her coffee faster with her head down.

"Never heard of him," Cody said, truthfully, "Anyways, Selphie said that Zell and that girl Winter are helping out and she wanted me to send for you."

"You mean Summer?" Seifer asked.

"Yeah, that's it," Cody said, "So let's go. I gotta make sure my sister isn't getting 'freaky' with any guys, if you know what I mean." Seifer rolled his eyes, then looking at Quistis. She smiled a girlish smile that Seifer had never seen on her before. Acting on pure impulse, Seifer leant across the table and kissed Quistis on her cheek.

"Let's go, Codes." Seifer said, putting his arm around Cody's shoulders, not letting him turn around. Seifer never knew how Quistis looked after that moment, but he imagined she just continued to stir her coffee so rigorously that it spilled out of its foam cup.

Seifer returned to his dormitory for a few hours before going back to Selphie's. He had the initial intention to go back to Selphie's as soon as he got something to eat, but he wanted time to process what Quistis had told him. Seifer couldn't imagine why anyone would love Squall Leonhart, let alone someone as smart as Quistis. He figured she had run the pros and cons of loving him in her mind like a teacher of her stature would. Then again, Seifer debated that ultimately most people would just follow their heart, no matter how stupid their heart may be.

Seifer opened the door to his dormitory and closed it as if he had a secret to hide. In a way, Seifer considered the information Quistis had given him about herself a secret, even though she didn't exactly say that she didn't want him to tell anyone. The message was pretty much clear, though.

Never once had the idea to blackmail Quistis cross Seifer's mind. This idea, though, would have previously been an ideal thing to do. He showed that he was still someone of a blackmailer with the whole Squall and Rinoa incident, but he had a newfound respect for Quistis after she opened up to him. He figured, though, that perhaps she was just desperate and had begun to open up to everyone, he just being one of her witnesses.

Seifer walked towards his closet and began to change his clothes when Diehard came into the room. Seifer and Diehard shared dormitory codes just in case they ever needed to reach each other in an emergency, but every so often Diehard would just enter without knocking if he just didn't feel like it.

"Oh," Seifer said, naked from the waist up, "What's up?" Diehard walked over and sat on Seifer's bed as he usually did. Seifer continued to get dressed as he heard Diehard sip on a bottle of beer.

"Why the hell are you drinking in my room, fool?" Seifer asked, pulling a t-shirt over his chest.

"I'm just nervous I guess." Diehard said, placing his beer on the floor, "That Selphie girl wants it bad."

"So," Seifer said, sitting down next to Diehard and taking off his shoes. He wiggled his toes in relaxation. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't know if I want to do it." Diehard said listlessly.

"Then don't," Seifer said, getting up to go to the bathroom, "She doesn't control you."

"I'd suck, anyways." Diehard said sadly. Seifer turned around and looked at him.

"What's up with you?" he asked, looking at his friend in the face, "What happen to the confident Diehard?"

"Do you think I'm a good kisser?" Diehard asked, looking up at Seifer with sad eyes.

"What?" Seifer asked, caught off guard by Diehard's question, "How should I know? You've probably just been drinking too much."

Seifer turned the water on in his sink, plugging the drain so the water would collect. As soon as enough was in the sink, Seifer took come in his hands and splashed it on his face with a gratifying coolness.

"Can I kiss you?" Diehard asked, getting to his feet.

"Hell no." Seifer responded matter-of-factly. It wouldn't have been the first time that Seifer saw Diehard drunk, so this behavior wasn't a surprise to him. "Are you trying to irk me?"

"What the hell does irk mean?" Diehard asked drowsily. Seifer dried his hands on a towel on his bathroom counter, immediately going and taking Diehard's beer from the floor.

"Give it back." Diehard said angrily.

"I think you've had enough of this stuff for now," Seifer said, proceeding to dump the beer down the sink, "At Selphie's party you'll find more of that."

Before Seifer could fully dump the bottle, Diehard rushed at him and tried to grab at it. Seifer held it above him in efforts to keep it away from him.

"Just lay off me." Seifer said impatiently, advancing backwards until Diehard forced him to fall on the floor. Seifer grunted as his head hit the hard tile on the floor of his bathroom.

"What's _up_ with you?" Seifer asked angrily. Diehard lay on top of Seifer from the fall. Before he could complain anymore, Diehard's flashed Seifer a smile.

"You're not drunk." Seifer said after a short pause. Diehard's eyes gleamed, and before Seifer could stop him, he pinned Seifer's wrists to the tile and kissed him hard on the mouth.

Seifer didn't kick his legs in fury as many other students may have done. He closed his eyes, feeling Diehard's tongue move around his mouth, still in shock from what his friend had done.

_What the hell is going on? _Seifer thought, _Is this really happening?_

Seifer realized that he was kissing Diehard back out of reflex, mostly because he had thought about making out with Summer at Selphie's party that night. He tried to push Diehard off him, but his grip on Seifer's wrists was strong. Seifer had figured out what Diehard had planned to do that night and was impressed by it.

Diehard pulled back with a satisfying smack of his lips, panting softly through a smile at Seifer.

"Ok," Seifer said nervously, "You've had your fun. You got me. Now get the fuck off me."

"Are you in a hurry?" Diehard asked teasingly. He moved his head near Seifer's neck, planting kisses down his throat.

"Get off me now, you fucker." Seifer said, his voice growing impatient. He lifted his elbow up and jabbed Diehard in the chest.

"Ok, ok." Diehard said getting off of Seifer's body. Seifer got up awkwardly and stared at Diehard in both confusion and horror.

There was an awkward silence to follow, Diehard looking back at Seifer with an embarrassed smile. He dug his hands into his pockets, looking down at his cowboy boots.

"You shaved your Mohawk." Seifer said, noticing that Diehard's head was evenly shaved. His eyes were blankly staring at Diehard.

"Yeah," Diehard said, putting his hands on his head, "I couldn't get used to sleeping on that thing."

Seifer suddenly was struck with a strange feeling of attraction towards his friend. He, for the first time, noticed Diehard in a different light than he had ever before. Diehard appeared to look handsome to him rather than just another one of his friends. He closed his eyes, shaking his head and began to leave the bathroom, when Diehard placed his thick arm in front of the doorway. For the first time, Seifer noticed that Diehard had light green eyes.

"Please?" He asked in almost a whisper.

Selphie turned up the volume on her CD player, letting her head bob with the music for a few seconds before going to tend to some chip bowls that needed to be refilled. She looked around disappointedly, looking for Diehard.

"Where could that man be?" She asked angrily.

"Maybe it's better if he's not here," Summer said, taking a chip from Selphie's refilled bowl, "We get to enjoy more girl time."

"Hey, I'm here!" Zell said, flipping channels on Selphie's television.

"As I said," Summer said, turning and smiling at Selphie and Rinoa, "Girl time."

With that comment, Rinoa and Selphie ran into their rooms to get make up supplies.

"Ok, Zell," Selphie said cautiously as she and Rinoa emerged carrying boxes and bags of make up, "How would you like to become _ beautiful_?"

"Huh?" Zell asked, his mind not moving from the television screen. He was engrossed in a sporting event that was flashing on the television.

"Get him!" Summer yelled, pouncing on Zell, holding him down with the help of Rinoa.

"What are you doing?" he asked in horror, looking at a blush brush that Selphie unearthed from one of her many bags of make up.

"Just acquainting you with a man's worst nightmare." Selphie said playfully. She opened a make up case and dabbed the brush on a pallet of pink blush.

"It keeps women in their bathrooms for hours," Summer said, playing along with Selphie, "And it costs them hundreds of dollars each year."

"Do you know what it is?" Rinoa asked, smiling at Summer and Selphie.

"Make up!" They all shouted, grabbing beauty products and assaulting Zell with them.

Seifer closed his eyes, grunting as he thought of Summer. He wanted so badly to go to the party Selphie was having, but he knew he couldn't go there. His shoes were hard on the marble floor, as they had been the night after all was settled with the Gardens and the sorceress. The night was dark and only a few lights were on. The garden was unusually empty, even the usual drunks weren't hanging around, constantly insisting they could hold their drink even though they were spewing chunks all over the place. Seifer walked until he reached the quad.

He entered the Quad slowly, being aware of his every step. He saw the sky was clear, but the air was sharp and cold. Despite the coldness, he ventured out on to the balcony. He let his arms rest on the railing. His mind raced harder than it ever had. His friend of so long had turned out to be gay. Not only that, he had turned out to have had a crush on Seifer himself since the beginning. Who would have thought? Seifer laughed bitterly at the cards he was dealt.

_Fuck this_ Seifer thought to himself, _Fuck all of this. Why did I even think I could get to know these people...or even want to. I hate every single damn son of a bitch in this Garden._

He found himself in a familiar position as he had been before. The same night flashed in his mind as the one before. His eyes began hear the classy music play in his head. It was so clear and crisp in his mind that it made him believe that it was playing somewhere. His eyes began to well up with tears he furiously tried to keep back.

"I won't." Seifer said through clenched teeth, his back sulked as he tried to keep his eyes dry.

Finally, Seifer's eyes let a tear fall down. After that came another, until Seifer was crying into his gloved hands. The music seemed to be getting louder in Seifer's mind, making his tears fall even faster.

"SHUT UP!" Seifer yelled loudly, hearing his voice echo off the walls of the quad. Seifer moved his head to his arm, crying softly into his arm.

"How could he do this to me?" Seifer cried bitterly, "That stupid son of a bitch."

Just as Seifer was about to leave the balcony, a small figure emerged from the entrance to the quad. Seifer watched it with angry eyes, puffed and red from being wiped harshly. Seifer wiped the rest of his tears away with a coarse hand. He watched as the figure got closer. How he hoped it was Summer. Maybe she was an affectionate girl who could come and comfort him and, even though he would resist her at first, she would keep persisting until finally she would break the strong shell of a man that stood before her. Seifer punched at the wall angrily, thinking about Squall and Rinoa.

The figure walked with cautious steps, as if it was walking over an area covered in mines. It seemed as if the figure made one false move the ground would explode. As it got closer, the steps increased until Seifer had a clear view of who was standing in front of him. The moonlight shone on her face, making her look even lovelier than she ever had. Her hair was in a quick bun and she was wearing a small black evening dress. Seifer closed his eyes and opening them again, just to see if he wasn't imagining things.

"Hello, Seifer." Quistis said softly.


	3. 3

Seifer rolled around in his bed until his body hit the ground with a thud. His bed sheets were wrapped around his body like a cocoon. He struggled to gain his balance, not noticing the bed sheets were constricting his legs from movement. He placed one hand on his nightstand to help him balance. His eyes were bloodshot red from lack of sleep. His mind was crowded with too many thoughts and his stomach was pretty much empty. He had gone to eat at the cafeteria, but he had been distracted by Quistis instead of eating. He quickly kicked off his sheets and walked to his minifridge that was set up in the corner of the room. He opened it only to find beer cans and an "I.O.U" note from Cody apologizing for eating something that used to be in the refrigerator. Seifer couldn't remember what it was, but he was angered all the same.

Cody and Seifer hadn't spoken for almost twenty-four hours. God knows if he had gone to Selphie's sleepover and wrecked it. Seifer considered the fact that maybe he had been kicked out by his sister. Seifer didn't want to drink on an empty stomach, so he shut the fridge with a swift slam that made the fridge jiggle a bit. He looked out the window and saw that Garden had docked back in Balamb. He wasn't sure why it had left in the first place, but finding out was one of the last things on his mind. It looked as if it had rained, but the sun was coming out. It was only six o'clock in the morning, so Seifer figured that the weather would be fine out by the time class ended.

Seifer inched to his closet and looked at himself in a mirror that he had stuck inside. His face needed a shave and his eyes looked tired. He weakly picked out his vest and coat and changed into them. His movements were very soft and tired, very uncharacteristic of Seifer. He closed his eyes for a second after he had put his clothes on, leaning his forehead against the closet. His eyelids burned against his eyes, which were itchy from being scratched at.

He remembered very little of the conversation he had with Quistis that night on the balcony. He specifically remembered how Quistis had tried to cover up why she was wearing the small black party dress she was wearing. She said that she had gotten dressed in the dark and thought it was her usual style, but Seifer knew better. What he didn't know, though, was why she had worn the dress at all. It wasn't like she was _expecting_ him to go to the quad. Seifer was sure she wanted to be alone with her dress, but everything else was left a mystery in his mind.

Seifer didn't really care about why she was wearing it, though. She had cheered him up just being there, even though had not mustered enough nerve within himself to tell Quistis about how Diehard had acted. He also could not tell Quistis of what happened afterwards with Diehard. Seifer scratched his head as he looked at his desk, cluttered with papers. Something was due today, but Seifer wasn't sure what. School wasn't a very prominent topic on his mind at the moment, but it was the most relevant thing in the room that Seifer could look out. He placed his papers into a pile and shut off his laptop, which was running for three days straight. The machine was very hot and Seifer feared it may not start up again, though the model was a very good one.

At around seven o'clock, Seifer headed out for the cafeteria to get some food. He decided to bypass the elevator so that he wouldn't see anyone he knew. The stairway was rarely used, and when it was it was for the usual drug dealers, late night drinkers, etc. Sometimes the Garden would employ someone to keep watch at the staircases, but they never paid much attention to anyone on them. Besides, the dealers and drinkers would then just move to another staircase that was unguarded. Garden was big enough that there was always an empty staircase somewhere. On Seifer's way down, he noticed some graffiti that was on the wall. There were three names written in elaborate spray pain (someone obviously had some time on their hands). The names read Jaquel, Rachel, and Samuel. Seifer knew of them. They were a group of people who seemed very tough, but were actually as normal as people could get. Rachel was a pretty girl, a little taller than Rinoa with frizzy black hair that sometimes had purple streaks. She wore a lot of punky-school-girl type of clothing and wore dark makeup, which looked even darker against her pale skin. Sometimes Seifer would see her around Garden and they would talk for a few minutes between classes, but nothing too intimate.

Their names weren't really Jaquel, Rachel, and Samuel, but they were generally known by those names. They were sort of like Diehard in a way, because on examinations and when speaking with teaches, Jaquel was Kyle Sraderston, Rachel was Kelly Becker, and Samuel was Kevin Lamstrom. Obviously, they had to somehow change their names so they wouldn't be known as the K.K.K.

Her other two friends were enemies of Seifer, and he avoided them both.

As Seifer approached the cafeteria, he saw Selphie and Cody in a heated argument. Selphie's hair was pulled into two small braids that made her look genuinely different than she did on a regular basis. Seifer silently picked up some random food and went to the table and sat next to Cody.

"Hi Cody." Seifer said quickly, patting him on the back and beginning to devour his food.

"Wow, you must be hungry," Cody said, watching Seifer inhale his food, "When was the last time you ate."

"Yesterday morning." Seifer said, taking a brief pause to blurt out the words to Cody.

"Whatever man," Cody said, shrugging his shoulders, "Just don't choke."

"OH MY GOD!" Selphie exclaimed, looking at her brother in horror, "When did you get your tongue pierced?"

"Like one million years ago," Cody said, continuing to eat his food, "I thought you noticed."

"LIKE _NO_!" Selphie said, eating a piece of her food, "You're totally going to get an infection."

"Will not," Cody said, sipping a small milk that was supposed to be used in coffee. Selphie looked at him in annoyance.

"We used to do that when we were like three." Selphie said, eyeing the empty milk cylinder.

"Milkies rule!" Cody said, unveiling three more he had in his cafeteria tray.

"Whatever," Selphie said, turning to Seifer, "So what's your excuse?"

"For what?" Seifer asked, swallowing a large amount of food.

"Missing my _sleepover_!" Selphie said, her elbows on the table and her head resting on her palms.

Seifer hadn't given Selphie's sleepover much thought. In fact, he had totally forgotten about it after his incident with Diehard. Summer was on his mind, but Selphie's whole party was very unimportant to him. Given the opportunity to make out with Summer, he would have taken her to his room instead of hanging around Selphie's party games.

"It was mondo fun and you missed it!" Selphie said, jumping in her seat playfully, "But it's ok, Selphie's bound to throw another one."

"Speaking in the third person again, sis?" Cody asked, opening a jello cup.

"Selphie can do what she pleases." Selphie responded, sticking her tongue out at Cody. Seifer continued to eat his meal until it was all gone, and his plastic dish was empty.

"Wow, you must've been hungry." Selphie said, looking at Seifer in amazement, "So what's the plan for tonight."

"Plan?" Seifer asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Selphie exclaimed, "A certain girl is free tonight to do something if a certain friend of hers would ask a certain friend of his to meet her at...say...seven at her dorm?"

"Huh?" Cody asked in confusion. Seifer sulked in his chair.

"Uhm," he said, moving his spork around in his plate, "Diehard and I are kind of not speaking."

"LIKE NO WAY!" Selphie exclaimed, banging the table and making a group of students at another table stare, "Did you like fight or something?"

"Sort of." Seifer said lowly.

"When did this happen?" Cody asked, stacking 'milkies' up in a pyramid. Selphie knocked it down with a scorned finger, smiling a sarcastic smile at Cody when he reacted.

"Yesterday," Seifer said, not wanting to dispense any information, "We kind of fought. We'll make up I guess." Seifer, though, was inclined to never make up with Diehard and was sure that their friendship was over. There were still the remaining feelings of attraction he felt for Diehard, which Seifer disliked immensely. It was these feelings that made Seifer bitterly hate Diehard at that time, not even wanting to speak about him.

"Wow, what did you fight about?" Selphie asked nosily. Leave it to Selphie to want all the details.

"Shut up, jerkoff," Cody said in his loud voice, "He _ obviously_ doesn't want to speak about it." Cody looked at Seifer and mouthed 'tell me later' very indiscreetly.

Selphie flashed Cody a dirty look and was about to say something when Zell came bursting into the Cafeteria area.

"You idiot," he exclaimed angrily, "Do you know how long it took me to take that stuff off?"

"What stuff?" Cody asked, looking at him in confusion.

"MAKE UP!" Zell said angrily. Seifer had just noticed the redness to Zell's face that obviously came from rubbing.

"You should have used make up remover after you've gotten the drag queen out of your system," Cody said in seriousness.

"There's make up remover?" Zell asked with wide eyes.

"Yep, Zelly." Selphie replied with an ear-to-ear grin.

Everyone seemed to have plans in Balamb for the weekend. Zell was going to go see his parents, Rinoa and Squall had planned some romantic event that made Seifer gag just thinking about it, and Diehard had finally saved up enough money and found enough parts to upgrade his weapon. That left Selphie, Seifer, and Cody alone in the Garden practically.

"Hey, guys!" Selphie said, arriving back from her dorm in a pink top and capris jeans.

"Like the look." Seifer said, grinning at Cody who looked at his sister in horror.

"You're not allowed to look hot!" Cody said, erasing the fear from his face and smiling playfully at his sister, "I'm just kidding, you look great."

"I'd say the same..." Selphie said, picking at one of the sleeves on Cody's large shirt. Cody was into wearing shirts that were too big for him, maybe to make himself appear to be bigger. He was a very wiry guy, and he needed all the illusions he could prepare.

"Hey, last time I compliment you!" Cody shouted defensively, slapping at Selphie's hand. Selphie shrugged and laughed to herself.

"So, want to go hang out?" Selphie asked, looking at Seifer, "There's not much to do around here."

Seifer wondered what Quistis had planned to do for that weekend. He was almost sure that grading tests and papers was her weekend's fate, though he wished in his mind that maybe something better was in store for her.

"Uhm, sure," Seifer said, coughing into his fist, "I got nothing better to do."

"You're serious?" Selphie asked, excitedly, "You would like _never_ go hang out with me before!" Selphie, for the first time in Seifer's experience, looked at him with intrigued eyes. She looked very smart rather than her silly self usually looked. She always came off as cute and sort of naïve when she would be around a crowd, but now it was virtually just he and she. Cody didn't much count because, as siblings, Cody and Selphie acted as they would normally act around each other. In other words, they didn't need to impress anyone.

Selphie put a hand on her hip and raised her eyebrow very skeptically.

"I can't believe this." Selphie said, looking into Seifer's eyes, "Maybe you aren't as cold as I may have thought you were." Seifer could help but feel gratified by this comment, smiling a big grin.

"Well, believe it, girlie." Seifer said, looking down at his shuffling feet. Selphie laughed, closing her eyes and looking away in embarrassment.

"Can we go now?" Cody said in annoying voice.

Once Seifer, Cody, and Selphie left Garden and reached Balamb, it was mid-afternoon. The sun was just barely starting to return its descent back under the earth's surface for anther day, but many people were out and about.

"I should have brought a coat." Selphie said, shuddering at a soft breeze.

"It's not so bad out." Cody said, stretching out his arms.

"Speak for yourself," Selphie yelled back, "Hey there's a shop! Lets go in! I bet they have heaters!"

"It's barely autumn and you're already freezing?" Seifer asked, raising an eyebrow. Selphie ran into a store called "Balamb Beauty Gift Shoppe" without answering.

"What's her prizoblem?" Cody asked.

"_Priz_oblem?" Seifer asked, almost in disbelief, "What's with thie –izzle act, Codes?"

"Just was trying something new, that's all," Cody said, walking at a healthy pace with Seifer, "It's time to start things new, things over. That's what Autumn is for. People say that New Year's is for that, but that's for getting drunk."

"You're quite the intellectual one, aren't you?" Seifer said fondly, placing his hands in his pockets, "Is this sudden burst of logic another one of your changes?"

"I've always been smart," Cody said to Seifer, looking him in the eyes, "You've just yet to notice my genius."

"Not sure I want to." Seifer laughed. He looked back at his friend. His brown hair, now that his cap was off, shown blonde against the sun. Cody smiled Seifer one of his toothy smiles.

"Come on, Selphie's probably already charged the store to her credit card."

The store was unusually cozy, even though the outside looked like it would be a simple wooden-cottage-like store (the ones that usually go out of business in a year or two because of their high prices). Seifer had to duck before entering the doorway because he was too tall.

"I guess that limits their customers." Cody said, laughing at Seifer, "Good thing me and the Slephster don't have to do that! Slephster was a pet name he had adopted for his sister when they were children. The inside joke was that when Cody was a baby he could never say 'Selphie' and all he could get out was 'Slephie'."

Selphie was looking at a smooth seashell necklace in the corner of the store, trying it on her neck to see if it would fit.

"Looks like they have some cool stuff here," Cody said to Seifer, "Let's check it out."

Seifer grunted, thinking Cody sounded like one of the Hardy Boys. "Let's check it out!" Seifer mocked.

"Hey, next time you get excluded." Cody said, not turning around. He was looking at a strange green clock that looked like it had been melted. "I wonder if this works."

Seifer's fingers grazed the decorative items that were set up on tables that were probably used as end tables and night stands in their past. Each one was covered with a small table cloth that was embroidered with many different intricate patterns. If one were to stare at it, the patterns would be imprinted on his eye when they shut their eyelids. While browsing, Seifer came across a small pink heart necklace that caught his eye. He picked up the box and saw that there was a little story and poem inside:

"This was a shell left behind by the lover of a woman who was killed during a large scale war. He professed his love that no matter how many beautiful woman passed by his eye, he would never love any of them, for he professed to continue to mourn his dead love for the rest of his existence.

Perfect one,

Lovely one,

In the world, never one so fair,

Made me feel the way

She makes me feel."

Seifer thought about if he should get it for Summer, maybe to make up for the two times that he had ditched her. Then again, when he thought of it, something of such depth might make a girl like her nervous. She didn't exactly seem like the kind who appreciated something deep and emotional. Seifer moved on, looking at the other merchandise the store offered. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Selphie had moved on to something else that looked like a small photo album, but the cover looked like someone had made it in their own home.

There were many interesting things in the store, such as birds crafted out of crystal, music boxes that played magnificent symphonies, and other small expressions of love. Seifer wished he had someone to give a gift like the ones he saw to. He thought about if he and Rinoa were still together. Maybe he could have given something like that to her. He imagined them being together, but quickly made the image go away. His relationship with Rinoa is one he didn't like to dwell on.

"Seifer, we're going!" Selphie exclaimed, standing near the exit with Cody.

"Ok," Seifer called back, "I'll be right there." Just as Seifer was about to leave, he approached the paying counter with a small music box in hand.

"How much for this one?"

Just as Seifer left the store, he saw Selphie and Cody speaking with Diehard, who was wielding his new weapon. The weapon had been duplicated into two separate knumchuks, each one having a smaller spiked ball. They seemed to be the same stainless steel ball with the diamond spikes on the surface. The knumchuks holding the balls were gilded in gold and had tassels at their end.

"...and now I've got _two _of them!" Seifer overheard Diehard explain, can't help but thinking he sounded like Crocodile Dundee, "Don't anyone mess with me with these babies."

Selphie saw Seifer standing a distance from the store's entrance and a greater distance from them, and motioned for him to come near them.

"Look who I found!" Selphie said, presenting Diehard like Vanna White would be presenting the next letter in Wheel of Fortune. She had obviously forgotten about what Seifer said about their "fight."

"Hi Mason." Seifer greeted shyly. He had refused to call him Diehard anymore since the incident had occurred in his dorm.

"Mason?" Cody asked, "This is Diehard. Who the fuck is Mason?"

"I'm Mason," Diehard said just as shyly as Seifer had spoken, "Diehard's not my real name."

"Oh." Cody said quietly, looking down at his scuffed sneakers.

"Anyways, I was thinking maybe that we could go for some night boating or something tonight. You game?" Selphie asked enthusiastically.

"Sure! Night boating sounds fun! Just as long as we bring a flashlight." Cody blurted out. Diehard nodded shyly.

"Sure." Seifer said, making his voice louder as not to seem intimidated by Diehard.

"Cool, I'll go make the reservations," Selphie said, "Cody, I need your fake I.D."

"Fine." Cody said begrudgingly. Diehard laughed to himself, but Seifer wasn't laughing.

Seifer and Diehard were left alone, facing each other and saying nothing. Seifer wanted to talk to Diehard, but at the same time he wanted to back off. He couldn't think of a word to say to him that could justify anything or make anything better. He still saw Diehard in an attractive light, which bothered Seifer immensely. He wished that he would think of his as he used to, but he feared there was no reverting back after what he and Diehard had experienced. It was like when a person doesn't consider another as anything more than what he appears to be, until something that person does makes him appear different. For example, if a student became a killer, people would from then on consider him crazy. They may not have considered him crazy before the incident, but the label after the incident sticks tight.

"Look," Diehard finally said, after a long, awkward pause, "I don't know what I did that was so wrong."

"You _don't know_?" Seifer asked angrily, "We're supposed to be friends, brother's even! And you try to hit on me, and make me feel obligated to...to _do things_ with you?"

"What's so wrong with it, Seifer?" Diehard asked, getting close to Seifer's face and whispering so no one would hear them, "Why can't I feel this way?"

"Because it's wrong." Seifer said listlessly, "We can't be this close. We're too good of friends. I love you, as a brother." Seifer placed his hands on Diehard's shoulders.

"And," Seifer continued, looking down at his feet as he tried to think of the right words to say, "And I just don't want to _lose_ that." Diehard looked at the ground, disappointed. Seifer continued to speak.

"I _need_ your _friendship_. It's helped me through all I've been going through," Seifer said, looking at Diehard in the eyes, "To give that up to try some impossible relationship..."

"Why is it so impossible?" Diehard asked angrily, "Are you just afraid or do you seriously think it wouldn't work out?"

"Afraid?" Seifer asked, backing up from Diehard, "Why would I be _afraid_?"

"Because of what others would say," Diehard argued, "Now you can't even call me Diehard because people might think you're being sweet with me."

"That's not why." Seifer argued.

"Yes it is." Diehard said angrily. He turned around and took a few steps forward before turning back around. He scratched his head out of frustration.

"Do you know how much it hurt me when you called me 'Mason'?" Diehard asked. Seifer was silent. "It made it clear you don't want to be my brother anymore. That you can't accept how I feel. Well, I feel this way." Diehard added an inflection by touching his chest with his pointer finger when he spoke.

"I can't help how _I _feel about you," Diehard said, facing Seifer, "If you can't accept me for who I am, I guess maybe we shouldn't be brothers anymore. Maybe not even friends."

"Diehard," Seifer begged, letting his body slouch, "Stop making yourself sound like a television show."

"Maybe there's a little of it in me," Diehard sighed, looking back down at his feet, "But I do want you to know that I love you."

Seifer shuddered at Diehard's statement. He looked at his friend with soft eyes. Diehard looked back up at Seifer. He walked closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Seifer felt the different between the Diehard's gloved palms and his bare fingers.

"I love you more than you can imagine." Diehard repeated, "As a brother, but also as a lover. I want to love you, and I will wait until you can love me."

Seifer nodded, silent. He was waiting for Diehard to offer him a hug, but Diehard did nothing. He stepped away from Seifer, looking at him with his green eyes sad. Just as Seifer was about to say something to defend himself against Diehard's eyes, Selphie returned with Cody, grinning from ear to ear.

"We got a boat!" Selphie said excitedly.

"A huge ass boat!" Cody added with the same excitement.

"The I.D. worked!" Selphie exclaimed. The group then noticed a crowd of people were watching them. All four SeeDs looked in different directions, embarrassed and uncomfortable.

"Maybe turn the voice down a little bit next time." Diehard said, using his fingers to show "small."

"Can do." Selphie said, her face beet red.


	4. 4

Cody had evidently learned how to drive a boat from his father when he was growing up. Selphie and her brother had lived by the water, so naturally they and their family were dragged into the 'sea life.' Seifer wasn't exactly thrilled about the fact that his life was at the mercy of clumsy Cody, but after a few minutes he realized that Cody knew what he was doing.

He was still on edge about Diehard being on the boat with him. Diehard seemed to be full of life and unusually pepped up for some reason, which Seifer hoped had nothing to do with him. It was also very painful for Seifer in that Diehard was usually his confidant, to whom he could tell his problems to. Now, he was basically alone with his thoughts, which Seifer detested immensely.

The sun was touching the water's surface at this point, and the water was calm. The sun reflected off the water, making a mirror effect of the sky. The water was still, making it seem like a looking glass. Selphie stood next to her brother as he navigated the small boat that was built for seven. Her hair, pulled into two messy pigtails, shone gold in the sun. She looked at Seifer, who was sitting in the front of the boat with Diehard.

"Isn't this great?" Selphie said over the wind that was blowing, "I've always loved boating."

"Slow it down, would you, Codes?" Diehard asked, "The wind's getting my eyes."

"Sure thing." Cody said, slowing down until the wind wasn't a factor. Selphie took a seat in between Seifer and Diehard. Seifer sighed out of relief, which was caught by Diehard. Diehard looked down at his lap for a few seconds before declaring he needed a drink from the cooler that Selphie had prepared before they left.

"Isn't he _gorgeous_?" Selphie asked, biting on her lower lip.

"Selphie," Seifer said solemnly, "There's something you should probably know about Diehard."

"What?" Selphie asked, her eyes locked on Seifer's with question. Seifer looked at Diehard warily, who was having some trouble locating the drink he wanted. Diehard was very particular with his drinks, especially his beers. He was never used to so many different varieties, so he would check the contents of each variety before choosing one. Color was normally the factor, but since they were all in cans it didn't matter so much.

"Well," Seifer said nervously, "Diehard...well, he...has a girlfriend. Yeah. She goes to another Garden. He just didn't want to seem like the kind of guy to have a long distance relationship."

"Really?" Selphie said, buying into Seifer's quick cover-up, "Why would he want to hide that?"

"Because he doesn't want to seem like a loving guy, it kind of ruins his image," Seifer stammered, "But you can't tell him or he'll be embarrassed and not talk to you or me."

"Ok." Selphie said, confused and a bit let down. She crossed her legs placing her hands at her kneecaps and looking at the water.

"The water is simply _amazing_," She raved as Diehard returned with a drink.

"You've got some wild drinks in there, Selphie," Diehard said, returning to his seat.

"Yeah," she responded with added peppiness to cover up her disappointment.

"Hey, I got a great idea," Diehard said suddenly, "Why don't we call Summer to see what's going on with her, maybe we can pick her up."

"Sure," Selphie said, looking up at Diehard, "But can you use _your _ phone, mine doesn't have _long distance_."

Diehard looked at her in question.

"But why would that matter?" Diehard asked honestly. Seifer closed his eyes, trying to contain his rage. He was sure that Selphie would slip and all hell would break loose.

"I don't think it does very much, do you?" Selphie asked, masking her evident anger with a smile.

"I guess not." Diehard said cautiously, getting out his small cell phone and dialing a number. Seifer looked at Selphie, who shrugged and continued to look out at the water.

Summer, evidently, had slept late and not woken up until everyone in Garden was gone. She was willing to come down to go on the boat with them, but she would be at least an hour.

"I guess it's cruising until then!" Cody said happily, turning the steering wheel to make a sharp turn in the water. The ripple made its way across the entire bay. Beachfront homes lines the ends of the bay. As the sun got lower, making a magical display of colors on the waterfront, the houses' windows were illuminated by indoor lights.

"It looks like a city." Selphie said, "If it was my first time here, I actually would think this _was_ one."

"Yeah," Diehard agreed, seemingly engrossed with the beauty of the homes. The sun seemed to be going down with every passing minute. Within twenty minutes, the sun had gone down and darkness enveloped the bay. The homes' lights gave for some light, and also the pier from which the boat had departed was illuminated. Most importantly of all was the lighthouse that was constantly surveying the ocean. Though it was further from the bay, it still lit the bay nicely.

"How about we mix things up?" Cody asked, increasing the speed. Selphie cheered loudly as many teen girls do. Seifer sat back, feeling the wind on his face. Cody continued to speed up until he reached the bay's speed limit, which was about 25 mph.

"It seems like we're going so fast, but in a car we'd be inching." Selphie said, observing, "I remember when I was a girl I always told people my dad went 100 mph on the boat because I thought it was that fast. People would think my dad was crazy."

"It was only his daughter who was crazy." Cody added snidely. Selphie frowned.

"Shove it, Cody," Selphie said with a belligerent inflection on 'Cody,' "You're lucky I even put up with you."

"Yes you is." Cody responded without looking at his sister. Suddenly, Selphie perked up in her chair. She stood up and looked out at something.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, "There's an inlet to the ocean!" Seifer looked, seeing a small passage way.

"Let's go then!" Cody exclaimed.

"Hey, can I drive?" Diehard asked, "I've had some boating experiences in my day."

"Sure, I was getting kind of bored anyways." Cody said, even though it was obvious he could have kept going for miles. Diehard got up and took the steering wheel. Cody drove the boat a lot smoother than Diehard did, but he got the job done. Seifer was relieved to have Diehard somewhere where he couldn't be forced to look at him in the eyes. His green eyes began to haunt Seifer and he didn't enjoy seeing them.

"So what's the dizzle with you, Seif?" Cody asked, placing his arms around the backs of Seifer and Selphie's seats.

"Nothing, I guess," Seifer said, looking at his friend, "Depending on what 'dizzle' means."

"You are _so _white." Selphie laughed to herself.

"Hey, I try hard!" Cody remarked.

"There's no speed limit out in the ocean is there?" Diehard asked out loud without looking back at the three soldiers.

"No, don't think so." Cody responded.

"Good." Diehard said, smiling his pointy grin and jamming the boat into high gear. Selphie shrieked, grabbing Cody and Seifer's hands. Cody took his back, but Seifer let her grab on to his.

"Not so fast, Diehard!" Selphie complained, "And stay in line with the buoys!"

"The whatsits?" Diehard asked.

"I _thought_ you had driving experience." Cody said, expasperatedly.

"I did," Diehard said, "But we never dealt with no 'buzzies' or whatever you said."

"_Buoys_," Cody said, "And their mad important, so watch out."

"Ok, whatever," Diehard replied, "What do they do."

"They don't _do _anything," Cody explained, "They tell you where you should be when you're driving so you don't hit a sandbar. You do know what a _ sandbar_ is, right?"

"Yes, young fool," Diehard said, "So which one is the right one?"

"Stay to the left on green, right on red ones. Got it?" Cody said hastily.

"Yeah, I guess." Diehard said uneasily. As he drove, he practiced the rules aloud.

"Ok, now left on the green, right on the red," Diehard repeated to himself. Selphie laughed, turning to her brother.

"You're intolerable. I'm glad I learned to drive before you did. You'd be a helluva teacher." Selphie giggled

"I sure would be." Cody said proudly.

After a good hour of driving around, speeding well over the bay's speed limit out in the ocean, the four students docked their boat to meet Summer in the Balamb town square. She had called saying she had her hair cut, which took an extra hour. Selphie laughed, saying she was thankful that it was only one hour.

"My hair would have taken 1 and a half _least_." Selphie explained. She tugged on her messy braids "Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea."

"I agree, your hair is looking like an old barbie's." Cody remarked, holding a bag of gummi bears he had got in a local deli.

"Shut up, Cody," Selphie said, "I look good _whatever_ my hair looks like." Selphie said, crouching down to 'get all up in' Cody's face.

"Whatever." Cody said, busy with eating his candy.

"Can I get some of those, Codes?" Seifer asked, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Ok." Cody said begrudgingly, pouring some in Seifer's open palm, "Bye bye, little guys."

"It's ok," Seifer said playfully, "I'll take great care of them." He proceeded to throw three in his mouth and bite with a satisfying chomp. Selphie giggled, asking for some from Cody, who, in turn, ignored her.

The group reached a small coffee house where Summer said she would meet them at. She appeared waiting on a bench by the entrance. Her hair was cut shorter than it was before, angled and blown out like a pop star's hair would. She got rid of the pink highlights, but was wearing a pink hat and top so the feeling was still there.

"Oh my _God_!" Selphie exclaimed, "Your hair looks so pretty!" They ran and gave each other a hug.

"I _need_ the name of that place. They could do _wonders_ for me and my hair!" Selphie said happily, hopping up and down in anticipation.

"More like _miracles_." Cody said, imitating Selphie's inflections. Selphie flashed him a dirty look, then turning back and admiring Summer. Seifer approached Summer, receiving a big hug from her. The act was unexpected, for Seifer didn't really know Summer that well. At the same time, though, he did expect Summer would do something like that. Her personality was a very open one and she wasn't afraid to express herself if she was happy, sad, or whatever else she was feeling.

Seifer flashed a look at Summer, who looked back. The two didn't speak, only looked at each other. Selphie and Cody were involved in another argument, so they didn't notice the awkward stare. Diehard, though, had noticed.

"Want to go get something?" Diehard asked nervously, trying to break the silence. Summer turned and looked at Diehard.

"Me?" She asked.

"No, I mean yes," Diehard stammered, "All of us I meant."

"Oh, sure." Summer said, looking back at Seifer.

The coffee shop that they went into was a very small shop, but it had a quality that made it have a warm atmosphere. It was no wonder, then, that place was jammed with customers.

"How are we supposed to sit here if there are no tables open?" Cody asked, scratching the back of his head.

"We can't, dumbo," Selphie said, flicking Cody's head, "We can get it to go."

"And then go where?" Cody asked, rubbing his head from Selphie's hit.

"The boat's still docked," Selphie suggested, "And Summer still didn't get a chance to see it."

"Sounds good to me." Seifer said, preoccupied with something written on the wall near him.

"Me too." Summer chimed in, "I haven't seen the water yet, and it can't get much darker."

"Sounds like a plan then," Selphie said, elbowing her brother, "Mocha lattes fine?"

* * *

"I've always loved the water," Summer said as the boat moved slowly about the bay, "But not fast water." Seifer and Summer had opted for a rowboat instead of the speedboat, which Cody and Diehard were navigating through the ocean. Summer voiced her concerns of being afraid of driving fast in the water once she boarded the boat, noticing it was a speedboat rather than a row boat. She then voiced how she wondered how everyone fit in the rowboat she picture.

Seifer, naturally, opted to join her in the rowboat. No one else wanted to miss out on the night waves, so they were alone. Seifer wondered why Diehard hadn't asked to go with them. It probably would have seemed discreet, but then again, Seifer know that he didn't want to be found out. Besides, he had hid his homosexuality so well before, anything he did wouldn't have triggered the thought that he might be gay at all. Cody was too clueless to get it and Selphie was convinced he had a girlfriend.

"I also kind of never really got a good chance to spend a lot of time on the water," Summer continued, twirling her hair with one finger and looking at the lit houses, "I grew up in a city place, so there's like _no_ water at all. I've never seen a place like this before. It's like magic."

"Yeah," Seifer grunted as he rowed the boat smoothly.

"Need help with that?" Summer asked, taking an oar from Seifer, who willingly let go, "I'm not gonna let you row me around."

"Whatever you say," Seifer said, "You're the boss here."

"Am I?" Summer asked, rowing opposite Seifer, "Wait, you're going the wrong way!" The boat turned around in a circle instead of going straight.

"I am going the right way, you're going the wrong way," Seifer argued, "Now go right."

"I _am_." Summer said, laughing as she tried to turn. The boat continued to go in a circle until both students threw their oars in the middle of the boat and gave up.

"There's nothing but the sights here, anyways," Summer said, "We're safe in the middle."

"More like surrounded." Seifer remarked.

"Shut up," Summer said playfully, "So why have you been avoiding me?"

"Avoiding you?" Seifer asked, raising an eyebrow, "I haven't been avoiding you."

"Well, Summer said, leaning into Seifer with her arms resting on he thighs, "You didn't meet me when I gave you a note, you missed out on Selphie's party, and you were going to leave me at the Garden if Diehard didn't call."

"I've just been busy," Seifer said, "You caught me at all bad times."

"A certain Selphie said you helped her set up," Summer said, moving back, but still looking at Seifer, "So why didn't you come back?"

"I was," Seifer stammered, "Stopped. Something came up."

"Something, eh?" Summer asked, smiling a know-it-all smile, "I can't imagine what that could be."

"Take a guess," Seifer said, "If you guess I'll tell you. You get three tries."

"Was it something about Diehard?" She asked, crossing her arms. Seifer almost fell out of the boat at her remark.

"No." Seifer said plainly, but it was obvious he hadn't fooled the girl.

"It totally was! He cheated off your paper! Selphie told me all about it!" Summer exclaimed, standing up in the boat. Suddenly, the boat started to rock.

"Sit down, Summer!" Seifer exclaimed.

"Why, are you afraid that..." and with those words, Summer was sent falling into the water.

"Summer you idiot!" Seifer yelled, very much relieved that she didn't know Diehard's secret. He looked nervously to see where she was, but he couldn't see her. After a few seconds she still didn't come up for air. Seifer's mind raced with fears that she hit her head or somehow got injured. Seifer knew the water was freezing, but he grunted and jumped in. After feeling around for a few seconds, he finally opened his eyes and saw Summer's figure. He closed his eyes and grabbed her body, bringing it up to the boat.

"Ack!" Seifer grunted, rubbing his eyes furiously, "I can't see underwater!"

"It took you _that_ long to get me?" Summer asked, "You were going to let me drown!"

"Was not," Seifer said, treading water to keep up, "Now can we go home and dry off?"

"I sort of like it," Summer said, not paying attention to her ruined hair, "Won't you swim with me?" Seifer was just about to consider it, when he realized the present he got was in his pocket. He nervously picked it out of his soaking pocket to see the small heart-shaped music box a little wet, but it didn't look ruined. He turned the crank to see if it still worked. The music that was playing on the night of the party after the sorceress was defeated played with gentle crystal sounds.

"That's really pretty," Summer said, looking at it, "Did you find that in the water?"

"No," Seifer said, lifting himself up on the boat, "I bought it."

"Oh," Summer said sadly, "I'm sorry if I got it wet."

"No problem." Seifer said listlessly. He was, though, angry it had gotten ruined. It would probably still work, but it wouldn't have that "just bought" charm that he wished it had. Summer tried to get up on the boat, but she had trouble. Seifer extended his arms to help her up, but she just grabbed him and pulled him in.

"I'm sorry!" Summer exclaimed honestly, the boat flipped over on top of their heads. The area was pitch black, which scared Seifer.

"You're angry." Summer said.

"No, it was an accident." Seifer said.

"You think I'm just a fool," Summer said, moving in the water, "You think I'm just a stupid blonde girl who's boy crazy. I know you do. Everyone does." Her tone was sad. Seifer fished around for her hand in the water until he found it.

"I don't think so," Seifer said, "You're _intoxicating_."

'Is that a good thing?" Summer asked, even though Seifer knew she knew what the word 'intoxicating' meant.

"I think you know." Seifer responded. He felt around for Summer's face until he reached it with one hand. He placed his other on hr damp cheek, planting a soft kiss on her lips. Summer grabbed hold of Seifer, pulling him under the water. Seifer and Summer rose, seeing the lights all around them and their boat flipped over.

"Should we flip it back over." Summer asked, looking at it. She was a bit flustered by Seifer's kiss.

"Should we?" Seifer asked, "I sort of like it." Summer realized how he was quoting her, and she swam over to him and kissed Seifer's mouth. It was a sweet kiss, much different that Seifer expected. She seemed like the raunchy make-out type to him, but he accepted the fact that he was wrong.

"I don't usually kiss guys on the first date, you know." Summer said.

"This was a date?" Seifer asked in amazement, "I'm surprised you didn't slap me."

"Well, you opted to go on a boat with me going a maximum of 2 miles per hour when you could be speeding in the ocean with a speedboat..." Summer explained, "You either are the biggest pussy ever or you like me. Which one are you?"

"I'm thinking." Seifer said playfully. Summer laughed, flipping the boat back around. She lifted herself up into it, nearly tipping it over again. Seifer lifted himself up easily.

"You make it look like I'm retarded!" Summer exclaimed. Seifer took an oar and handed one to Summer with a smile.

"Just row."

* * *

Once back in the town square, Seifer and Summer ran to a shop to buy some overpriced towels. They were the only refuge they had, unless they wanted to walk home in wet clothes. Seifer noticed that Summer was shivering, so he let her have his coat.

"It's pretty warm even though its soaking," Summer said to reassure Seifer, "How boyfriendly of you." Seifer smiled, wrapping his towel around his bare arms tightly. The night had grown cold, so their bodies shivered.

"Maybe we should head back to Garden." Summer said, "I'm freezing my ass off here."

"What about the others?" Seifer asked.

"My celly's busted," Summer said, showing Seifer her purse that was flooded with water, "Got any other ideas of how to get them?"

"No." Seifer said as he watched Summer pour a quart of water out of her purse, her cosmetics falling out. Her shirt was wet against her body, her bra showing through. Seifer reached over and closed the breast button on his jacket over her.

"Oh, thanks." Summer said, realizing how her shirt stuck to her. Luckily, her capris jeans were hardy enough to withstand the water. There was some trouble locating one of Summer's candy pink sandals out of the water, but luckily it floated and Seifer fished it out for her.

"Let's go, I'm freezing!" she complained. They were just about to leave, when a heavyset man with a mustache ran over to them.

"Where you just involved in the accident?" he asked, out of breath from running.

"Accident?" Summer asked, "Do we look like we were driving a car?"

"No," he stammered, "The _boating_ accident. The one near the ocean."

"What?" Seifer asked in fear, "No, we were in the bay. What happened?"

"Come on, I'll show you." The man said, running to a direction. Seifer grabbed Summer's hand and ran.

Reporters had already arrived and were reporting about the accident. Seifer soon saw Selphie and Cody, along with Rachel, Seifer's old friend from Balamb Garden.

"Selphie! Cody! Rachel?" He said, looking at the three of them. Cody was soaked with water, as was Rachel. Selphie was dry, but shivering out of fear.

"What happened to you guys?" Summer asked, pulling her towel close to her.

"What happened to _you_ guys?" Selphie asked, her voice tinged with fear.

"We fell in the water, but what happened here?" Seifer asked impatiently. Suddenly, his eyes scanned the three in fear.

"Where's Diehard?" He asked through trembling lips. Selphie erupted in tears, holding on to her brother's towel.

"Holy shit where the fuck is Diehard?" Seifer asked in fear, "Where is he?"

"He crashed into a sandbar while driving, he read the buoys wrong," Rachel said, her make up running.

"Normally that's not even a problem," Said an official-looking man with 5 o'clock shadow and a fisherman's cap, "He just picked the wrong part of the ocean to drive on. Rather fast, too." Seifer seized the man by the collar of his shirt, shaking him.

"Where is the person who was driving the boat? Tell me now." Seifer demanded.

"An ambulance took him away." The man said, struggling to fight Seifer off of him, "They took him to the 'Garden' or something." Seifer dropped the man, closing his eyes and breathing heavily. His heart raced with the thoughts that Diehard could be dead.

"There were two other kids taken with him, too," The man said, realizing that Seifer was a friend of Diehard's, "They're going to be ok." The two other kids he was referring two was obviously Jaquel and Samuel, Rachel's friends.

"How the fuck do you know?" Seifer asked angrily, walking away from the scene.

"Do you know the kids who were in the accident? Care to comment?" a reporter harassed.

"Get out." Summer said angrily, shoving the reporter woman's camera man. Seifer started into a run, followed by Summer.

_He's going to be alright,_ Seifer reassured, _He'll be alright...he'll be alright...please to God let him be alright..._


	5. 5

What had happened was that, while driving in the ocean, Selphie, Cody, and Diehard met up with Jaquel, Samuel, and Rachel in a similar speed boat. Once they talked for a little but, Jaquel, driving the boat, challenged Diehard to a race. Diehard accepted, and the two boats began to race. The soon broke 50 mph, then 60, and 70, making it increasingly hard to see. Many on board confessed there were times they couldn't see at all. None had the aid of glasses to help them against the wind, so seeing was virtually impossible to see anything, especially since it was night time. Eventually, Diehard had ignored the buoys and went into shallow territory, eventually hitting a sandbar and sending Cody flying into the water. Selphie had not fallen into the water because she had been in front of a panel on the boat which she rammed into when the boat stopped short. Other than minor injuries, Cody and Selphie were ok. Selphie complained from a bruised leg and needed to be on crutches for a month or two and Cody received a nasty slash on his face. Seifer had missed all of those things when he saw them, but now he realized the gravity of their situation.

Rachel, Jaquel, and Samuel had hit a smaller sandbar which made the boat tip over when it stopped short, sending Jaquel and Samuel into the water. Jaquel hit his head on a large rock and had gone into a coma, sending Rachel in tears. He was to be the father of her baby, which Rachel had just realized she was having. Samuel pledged to be the baby's father and take the responsibilities to the baby when and if Jaquel survived the attack.

Diehard was taken to a hospital away from Balamb for immediate treatment. He had been thrusted into the steering wheel and one of the levers on the boat was jammed into his stomach and had ruptured an artery, causing severe bleeding. Seifer was told he was in critical condition, but would survive.

Seifer, now, sat in his dorm room by himself. He didn't want to be with Summer at the moment, and she understood and kept her distance. Selphie and Cody were in the infirmary being treated for their minor injuries. The gift Seifer had gotten was on his counter under a small towel, drying. It filled up with water, but that didn't ruin the mechanism of it. Seifer started to hate it because it was a memento of what happened, but he kept it anyway.

At about three A.M. there was a knock on Seifer's door. He opened it to see Rachel Becker at his door. She had on a shirt that was too small on her (different from the one she had on when he had seen her at the pier). It had rumored that Rachel had gone under the knife and received a breast augmentation job with money she received from her rich parents who lived in some distant city Seifer couldn't remember the name of. Her breasts definitely looked bigger, Seifer hadn't noticed until that moment. He hadn't seen her since he went off with Edea. Her dark makeup was off, giving her a sensual look that most girls would envy. He let her in without speaking, and she walked over to his desk chair and sat down.

"I'm really sorry for what happened out there tonight, Seifer," Rachel said pleadingly, leaning in towards him. She had dragged the chair near the foot of Seifer's bed, where Seifer said with his head in his hands, "You've got to believe none of us wanted to see anyone hurt."

"Why are you apologizing, you weren't driving." Seifer said without looking up.

"Jaquel was," Rachel continued, "And he can't speak for himself."

"So you decided to make it better?" Seifer asked sternly, still looking down, "If you haven't noticed, Jaquel and I weren't exactly the best of friends."

"But I've always liked you, Seifer." Rachel said. Seifer looked up and stared at her. Her eyes were purple from her contact lenses.

"Not that way," Rachel said quickly, "I mean, as a friend and person. I think you're a good guy."

"Then why are you apologizing about Selphie, Cody, and Diehard?" Seifer asked.

"Mason and I were friends," She said, looking down, "Good friends." Seifer didn't realized Diehard even knew Rachel, but he supposed he did. He also figured that the two had sex, for most of Rachel's friends did. Jaquel and Samuel both had, many times, but Jaquel was the one who claimed to be her boyfriend. Seifer flashed a look at her finger, which had what looked like an engagement ring.

"A gift from my father," she said quickly, noticing Seifer's stare, "He thinks that if he sends me expensive presents ever so often it makes us close. She examined the ring for a second, reminiscing about her relationship with her father. After a short silence, Rachel spoke again.

"Mason told me how he felt about you," Rachel said, "That's why I'm here. I know you were close."

"We _are_," Seifer said, "But not in the way you're thinking."

"I didn't mean to sound like he already went." She said calmly, "The doctors said he probably won't."

"I know." Seifer replied listlessly. Rachel looked like she was suffering, but Seifer didn't move to comfort her. He was very angry at her, even though his anger was unfairly directed. She was there, so he was taking his anger out on her.

"I know you probably just think I'm a stupid whore, but I felt for him, too," Rachel said, "And I just wanted to apologize for putting his life in jeopardy, even if I didn't do it. I was involved some way, so I guess that makes me responsible, also." She was on the verge of tears and her lip began to quiver. Seifer looked up at her unmoved.

"And I hope when he comes back to Garden he can forgive us all, but I want your forgiveness most of all." She said, tears streaming down her face.

"I won't give it." Seifer said monotonously.

"Please," she begged, "Why can't you forgive me?"

"Not you," Seifer said, "Jaquel."

"He's dead!" She said loudly through her tears, "My baby will never know its father, and Jaquel won't see him grow up! I know somewhere up where he is he'd value your forgiveness."

"And it wasn't all his fault, you know," Rachel continued, wiping her tears and calming down a bit, "We were _all_ involved." Seifer went over to Rachel and looked at her in the eyes. Her contacts blocked her eyes from showing any emotion. With a sudden effusive emotion, Seifer embraced the girl in his arms, crying softly on her shoulder. She hugged him back, a little shocked.

"I loved him," Rachel said, "And I know that you did, too."

"Damn that Mason." Seifer said through tears.

Selphie's sleepover "Return to Normalcy" was now in vain. The school swarmed with reporters asking about the death of Jaquel, the condition of Diehard, and the condition of Cody and Selphie. Other rumors went around, like there was a hijacking that caused the boat to crash, there was a missing student that had drowned and was forgotten, etc. The reporters thrived of Selphie, who was willing to tell just about anything to make them leave. At one point she took out her knumchuks and was threatening to strike if the reporters didn't leave. The Garden was in a state that was nothing but normal.

"This is insane," Summer remarked, who was seated in detention for insulting Quistis' teaching methods. Seifer sat with her, though he did nothing wrong. He played up the "in a fragile state of mind" card so he wasn't told much about what to do.

"Yes it is." Seifer said, imitating the same blank stare that summer had. After the whole ordeal, Summer had went and gone to dye her hair black. Her new blonde highlights reminded her of the night, so she dyed it so that the entire blonde was away. She looked very attractive with her hair dark, but she looked a lot like Rinoa.

"Do you hate everything about that night?" Seifer asked her.

"Yes." She replied coldly.

"Really?" Seifer asked, almost weakly.

"Yes." She replied with the same bitterness, her stare not fading.

* * *

Rachel and Seifer started to talk more frequently than normal after the whole incident. She was a very quirky girl, which made her interesting to talk to. Seifer and she had grown up the same kind of way; parents who seemed like their children were just a side product of sex and were appeased with money most of the time. Seifer's mother adopted him, but she died during a car accident (which made this incident even more horrific for Seifer). Seifer's father never wanted any children, so he was basically kicked to the curb most of the time as a child. Other than paying for the school each year, Seifer and his father barely even spoke.

Rachel had gone back to calling herself Kelly and didn't wear the make up anymore. Samuel kept accusing her of being disloyal to Jaquel, but she ignored him most of the time. She often mourned his death, but Seifer was there to comfort her and she was more times than none comforted by Seifer. Anytime Seifer would ask her why she wasn't upset about Jaquel, she insisted that he would want her to be happy.

Seifer's newfound relationship with Rachel, though, was realized by Selphie and Cody, who had been spending less and less time with Seifer. Things seemed to be shifting back to the ways they were in the beginning where Seifer didn't acknowledge their existence.

"Seifer, what's going on with you?" Cody said, one day when he confronted Seifer, "You never hang with me and the Slephster anymore!"

"I'm not allowed to have other friends?" Seifer asked, busy looking at the music box he had bought as it played the soft music.

"_Have_, yes," Cody said, demonstrating with his hands, "But you like traded up to that girl Rahcel. Or should I said traded _down_."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's pregnant."

"So?"

"You wanna be the dad?"

"Not necessarily."

"Then don't hang with her dude, I hear she's bad news."

"From who?"

"I have friends other than you, you know."

Seifer spend up the box until the music stopped. He then went over to Cody and planted to hands on his shoulders. He moved his face very close to Cody's, to the point where he couldn't see clearly.

"What's bothering you, paisan?" Seifer asked with a smile.

"Pay_what_?" Cody asked, pushing Seifer off of him, "You've been acting weird since you started talking to that girl. Everyone says it, even Quistis!"

"Quistis, eh?" Seifer asked, intrigued, "What does she say."

"She used some word 'revert'," Cody said, digging some candy out of his pocket, "I'm not sure what it means."

"It means I'm going back to how I used to act." Seifer said softly, his voice deep.

"Really?" Cody asked, "So does that mean you and Squall are enemies again?"

"Since when were we friends?" Seifer asked, pushing past Cody and walking out of the dorm. Cody knelt down and began to raid Seifer's minifridge.

"What are you saying about me?" Seifer asked sternly, pushing open Quistis' office door.

"Excuse me?" Quistis asked.

"Cody said you were saying something about me reverting." Seifer said, letting himself in and sitting at a chair.

"Cody says many things," Quistis said, "And what would you be reverting back to?"

"Cut the bullshit," Seifer said angrily, slamming his hands down on Quistis' desk, "Why are you talking about me."

"Because you _are_ turning back to your old self again." She replied, standing up and sternly facing him.

"I don't need your analysis of me," Seifer said, staring at her, "So if you _don't_ mind I'd like you to keep your observations to a minimum, and to yourself."

"You're changing," Quistis said, "And I thought you were doing so well."

"_Was_." Seifer said, getting out of the office and slamming the door.

* * *

That night, Seifer tried to phone Summer, but she didn't answer her cell phone. She had gotten a new one and Seifer had found out the number from Selphie. The whole night that Seifer thought Summer had begun to like him has turned out to be a lie. Summer showed little to no interest in Seifer at all and, in fact, chose every chance to ignore him or point out something he'd done wrong. Despite Seifer's best wishes, Summer made it painfully obvious that she had no interest in Seifer whatsoever.

Rachel came over a little later, sensing that Seifer was a little on edge since Summer had shunned him.

"Is everything ok, Seifer?" She asked, pulling down her shirt, which kept on rolling up on her hips.

"Just girl trouble," Seifer said, "Nothing to get alarmed about."

"Which girl?" Rachel asked with a smile on her face. She went on top of Seifer's bed and laid down on her back.

"Summer." Seifer said, fidgeting with his computer. Rachel frowned.

"That girl?" Rachel asked with disgust in her voice, "What do you like about her anyways?"

"I don't know," Seifer said, continuing to type, "I guess she's just on my mind."

"Forget about her," Rachel said, "She's moody that way. At one point it seems like she likes you and then she turns on you."

"You talk to her?" Seifer asked softly.

"Used to. I tired to be a friend, but she just hated on me." Rachel said. Seifer then shut off his computer and laid on his bed next to Rachel.

"I guess she's just that kind of girl that grows on you." Seifer said softly, looking at Rachel in her eyes. Her contacts were out and Seifer noticed she had deep brown eyes.

"Yeah," Rachel said softly. Seifer looked into the woman's eyes, looking for something. He wasn't sure what he was looking for in her eyes, but whatever it was, he couldn't find it.

"What are you looking at?" Rachel whispered, smiling.

"You." Seifer responded softly. He placed a finger to her face, stroking her face. Rachel's eyes then turned sad and she turned away from Seifer.

"I can't." She said sadly, looking up at Seifer's ceiling. She couldn't move much away from Seifer on a twin sized bed.

"Why not?" Seifer asked, looking down at his lap.

"Because I'm pregnant," she said, "It'd be too much of a burden on you. And besides, you're in love." Seifer looked up in surprise. He turned over to Rachel and placed a hand on her face. Rachel looked at him sadly, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Does this feel like the kiss of a man in love?" Seifer asked with a smile, kissing the woman softly on her lips. Rachel closed her eyes tight, not reacting to Seifer's kiss. Seifer moved his lips away with a small sound.

"I know you love her." Rachel said softly, wiping her eyes, "I can tell. You don't kiss like you love her but I know you do."

"Rachel, please?" Seifer asked softly, grabbing her hand. He inhaled deeply. "If your baby needs a father, I'd be happy to be the man." Rachel sat up in surprise, placing a hand to her face. She closed her eyes and cried into her arms. Her hair fell in front of her shoulders, curled prettily at the ends. Her bangs were messy in front of her forehead. Seifer sat up and placed an arm around her shoulders.

"I want to love _you_," Seifer said, "Please let me."

"You're just hurt," Rachel cried, "You don't really love me. You just want someone and I'm here."

"I promise I will love you." Seifer said, taking a hand from Rachel, "I will love you if you let me." Rachel got off the bed and looked at Seifer with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I can't let you make the biggest mistake of your life by taking me into yours," Rachel cried, "Did you just think we'd make a big happy family?" Seifer was silent. He let himself fall back on his bed. Rachel closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I don't want to make you ruin your life." Rachel repeated desperately.

"My life is already ruined if you walk out that door." Seifer said, looking at the ceiling. Rachel put her hands at her side, her large breast showing through her shirt.

"I can't." Rachel cried, rushing out the door.


	6. 6

Seifer was called down to Quistis' office early that morning. He had had a restless sleep the night before, and his eyes were intensely bloodshot. Another weekend had rolled by, the week increasing in stressfulness each day for Seifer. He hadn't spoken with anyone for several days since Rachel didn't accept Seifer's proposal to be her lover. Seifer spend the entire day in his room until it was too late for anyone to be out. Then he went and got a quick bite to eat.

He laid awake each night listening to messages on his answering machine from Rachel, begging for a call back. Cody also called, saying he didn't want to barge into his dorm because he was afraid he was going to get hurt, but he was concerned about Seifer. Selphie left a hang up message. Even Rinoa had called, but she left no message.

Seifer quickly threw on his Balamb Garden uniform, rumpled from being shoved underneath his bed. Luckily for Seifer, no one was in the hallways so he didn't need to talk to anyone. Either way, Seifer was almost unrecognizable because of his rumpled appearance. When he entered Quistis' office, she was startled.

"Seifer?" She asked in amazement.

"Yes," Seifer said in an exasperated tone, "What did you need?"

"I just called you in to say that Mason is in great shape. He's accepting visitors over in the Dollet hospital." Quistis said, adjusting her glasses and looking at some sort of notice.

"Really?" Seifer asked in excitement, "Is a train leaving for there anytime soon?"

"Yes, in two hours," Quistis responded, "You may want to get ready."

"Can do," Seifer said, "Thanks." He got out of his seat and was about to leave, when he stopped in his tracks. He turned around slowly and walked back up to Quistis' desk.

"What?" Quistis asked, looking up. Seifer took the small music box out of his pants pocket, placing it on the desk. Quistis looked at him in surprise, but Seifer just left without an explanation. Quistis wound up the music box, hearing the music that she knew all too well. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn't cry. She quickly placed it in her lap so nobody would see it.

When Seifer returned back to his bedroom, he saw Rachel knocking helplessly on his door.

"Seifer, I _know_ you're in there!" She yelled, rapping on his door, "Just open up. I have to talk to you." Seifer walked in front of his door, ignoring Rachel, and punched in the code. Before Rachel could speak, Seifer was in his door and he slammed the door shut right in front of her face.

"Seifer!" Rachel exclaimed, "My shirt got caught in the door!" Seifer sighed, walking back to the door and opening it a crack. Rachel grabbed the door and pushed it open, holding it with one of her tall, plastic sandals.

"Seifer, talk to me!" Rachel demanded through clenched teeth. Seifer pushed the door on her sandal, but it wouldn't budge.

"What do you want?" Seifer asked angrily.

"I need to talk, just let me in." Rachel said, trying to push the door open. Seifer pushed it back.

"Seifer stop this! What did I do to deserve this?" She asked painfully. Seifer looked at her blankly.

"I'm just not in the mood right now, Rachel," Seifer said, "Now please move."

"I'm sorry if I hurt you, Seifer, I really am," Rachel pleaded, "But you _ have_ to talk to _someone_! Even if it's not me."

"I don't have to do anything." Seifer replied listlessly.

"I just want you to be happy." Rachel said, "Anyway, I'm going to see Diehard today when the train gets in. Please come with me."

"I was going anyway, but not with you." Seifer sad coldly.

"Fine." Rachel replied angrily, moving her sandal and letting the door get slammed in her face.

* * *

Seifer was ready for the train just before it left. He was wearing his usual overcoat and black pants with his blue vest underneath. In his hand was a small black bag where Seifer had prepared a present for Diehard. He had his favorite beer (since Diehard was so particular) and his favorite shirt from his dorm. He entered the train and saw Rachel and Cody on it. Selphie had wanted to go, but Quistis said it would be too much of a trek with her crutches. She had given Cody a camera and demanded he take pictures, but Cody dropped it in a waste basket before he got on the train. No one had heard anything from Summer.

"Hey there stranger," Cody said, "Where've you been, man?"

"Just busy with stuff." Seifer replied, putting on fake happiness for Cody. He could tell Rachel didn't buy it.

"What's in the bag?" Rachel asked, crossing her legs.

"Stuff for Diehard." Seifer said softly, placing the bag at his feet.

"What sorta stuff?" Cody asked.

"Just got him his favorite beer and a shirt to wear instead of that stupid hospital shit they give you." Seifer responded, leaning back on his seat.

"How nice of you." Cody said with a strange voice that was probably imitating something, for Rachel giggled.

"So what are you going to say to him?" Rachel asked.

"I'm not sure." Seifer responded, looking at his lap, "Didn't think about it much."

"Seifer, why are you mad at me?" Rachel then asked, standing up in front of Seifer.

"I'm not fucking mad at you!" Seifer yelled at her, standing up. He was taller than her, but she was pretty tall herself for a woman. Her large plastic sandals also helped her get some lift.

"Then why do you keep treating me as if I did something wrong?" She asked angrily. She then turned to Cody, making a face of disgust. "Stop staring at my ass you perv."

"What?" Cody asked, placing his hands up like she was pointing a gun at him.

"You were there, I was angry," Seifer yelled back, getting her attention. He then let his body sulk down.

"And I'm sorry for treating you badly." Seifer said softly. He moved to sit back down in his seat, but Rachel stopped him. She placed her hands on his face and kissed his lips softly.

"Whoa baby!" Cody exclaimed, "What did _you_ guys do last night?" Rachel looked over at Cody and gave him a dirty look. Seifer sat back down. He looked at Cody and tried to figure out how his friendship could fit in between the love he felt for Rachel and the love he was trying to prevent from Diehard. Rachel sat back down next to Seifer. Seifer looked at her and Cody just about disappeared.

"I'm willing to take you back," Rachel said softly, "If you'll stand to be with someone like me."

"I'll rough it." Seifer said, smiling. Cody was silent, obviously feeling disjointed from Seifer's relations with the girl. Rachel looked down guilty at her stomach. Seifer placed a hand to it.

"I don't care, Rachel."

Once in Dollet, Rachel went ahead to use the bathroom. Cody and Seifer walked together, and Seifer explained all about what happened with Rachel and him.

"It totally makes sense," Cody said, revived by being included by Seifer, "You and Summer would have never worked out."

"What makes you say that?" Seifer asked, walking with his hands in his pockets.

"Well," Cody said, demonstrating with his hands, "Summer is pretty, but like many pretty girls, she's shallow. Rachel seems to really like you for who you are. Also, Summer's the kind of materialistic-serious-afraid-of-commitment type. Rachel and you are really similar. Well, they say opposites attract..."

"Who knows?" Seifer said, looking up at the sky. It looked as if it was going to rain and the clouds were on the verge of pouring.

"If you haven't noticed yet, I don't." Cody said.

The hospital where Diehard was staying was very large and intimidating. There was a glass dome on the top of the entrance that must have been forty feet high. The place looked more like a palace than a hospital, but from the outside it looked just like a regular medical building. The façade of the building was built so that the dome was hidden, as to not draw attention to the building.

"Diehard gets the best hospitals, eh?" Cody asked, looking up at the dome.

"But he's not rich or nothing." Rachel said in her soft voice.

There was a nurse who greeted them at the door, insisting they continue on instead of gawking at the dome. She was a short lady with bleached blonde hair like that of an aging waitress. She was a very jolly woman who operated a lot like a 'Stepford wife' would.

"Your friend is recovering very fast," the nurse said, "We at the hospital have been making a herculean effort to be back on his feet." Cody nudged Seifer, mouth the word 'herculean?' Seifer shook his head, not bothering to tell him what it meant.

"Look at all these rooms," Rachel said looking at the hallway they were walking down that was lined with doors, each having a medical clipboard in a built-on folder, "What could possibly go on in all of them?"

"Well, we do many cosmetic surgeries here, miss," The nurse said without turning back, "This is actually the plastic surgery wing. It got so popular that a rich benefactor gave us money to build the wing. Imagine that, huh?"

"Yeah." Rachel said softly, looking down at her chest.

"A lot of tit jobs must be done here." Cody said, his hands on his head as he stretched. Seifer elbowed him.

"Not _cool_." Cody said, grabbing his stomach. Rachel looked forward to not attract attention to herself. Her hair fell cutely in front of her shoulders as it usually did, curled at the ends with clips on the top of her hair. She had a small bag that was candy pink like her shoes, banging against her leg each time she walked. The purse was as large as it was pink, but it looked cute on her, Seifer had to admit.

"Ah, here we are." The nurse said cheerily, opening the door. The three went to go in, but the nurse blocked the way. "Only one at a time, I'm sorry I didn't say that before." She chuckled off.

"You can go in first, Cody boy." Seifer said, slapping his shoulder playfully. He nodded, going in. Seifer and Rachel could hear Cody greet Diehard with a large, "What up!"

"Weren't you afraid you were going to grow more after you got those?" Seifer asked, looking at Rachel. Rachel closed her eyes, leaning against the wall.

"I didn't care," Rachel said, "I wanted to be pretty quick. And luckily there's been no problem with them yet. They actually got a little bigger than I wanted them because I grew in addition. The doctors were scared I would get some complications, but I never did."

"Oh," Seifer said.

"Would you have noticed me if they were gone?" She asked sadly.

"Yes." Seifer said, "Because I love you, not the silicone." Seifer smiled at Rachel.

"Even though they're not so bad." He said, making Rachel smile.

"Shut up, Seifer." Rachel said with a smile on her face. Cody came out of the room, presenting Seifer and Rachel.

"He's all yours." Cody said. Seifer moved to go, by Rachel grabbed his hand. Her eyes were welled up with tears.

"You can come with me." Seifer said, looking at Cody even though he was speaking to Rachel. Cody nodded in approval.

"That nurse isn't going to throw any punches." Cody said laughing to himself. Rachel and Seifer went in slowly. Rachel's hand was clasped hard on Seifer's for support.

"Seifer! Rachel!" Diehard said softly, grunting as he sat up in his hospital bed. Rachel let go of Seifer's hand and ran to Diehard, embracing him tightly.

"I'm so glad to see you," Rachel cried, "How are you feeling."

"Pretty good," Diehard said, embracing her back, "The doctor says I'll be good in a few days." Rachel then moved back, embarrassed about how long she had been hugging her friend. Seifer then approached Diehard, placing his hands on Diehard's shoulders and kissing him softly on his face. Rachel wasn't fazed.

"Seifer I've missed you the most," Diehard said softly, "I'm so glad you're here." Seifer wrapped his arms around Diehard's body as best as he could.

"You stupid bastard," Seifer said softly, "I was so fucking scared for you."

"We all were." Rachel chimed in, leaning against the wall of the small room's wall.

"I was reckless," Diehard said, "And I guess I paid for it." Seifer moved back from him, remembering the black bag he had left on the floor.

"Uh, I got you something." Seifer said softly. He reached over to grab the bag, then handing it to Diehard. Diehard removed the items with a fond smile on his face.

"Oh, man," He exclaimed happily, his voice a little raspy, "Thanks a lot, Seifer." Diehard held his shirt close to him, smelling it deeply.

"I missed you!" Diehard said to his shirt, hugging it tightly, "So how are the rest of them? Selphie? Summer? Jaquel and Samuel?" Rachel became quiet, crossing her arms.

"What?" Diehard asked when Seifer and Rachel didn't say anything. Seifer knelt down to be eye to eye with Diehard.

"Jaquel never recovered." Seifer whispered softly.

"Oh." Diehard said softly to himself, lying back in his bed. Rachel sighed, but she didn't cry. Just as Diehard was about to say something, there was a soft rumbling felt in the room underneath the soldiers' feet. The rumbling continued to grow in intensity with every passing second.

"What's going on?" Cody asked, going inside the room. Seifer looked at the window next to Diehard and saw that rain was pounding on it very heavily, unusually heavily. Seifer went to the window to see, but just as he reached it there was a loud crash of glass. Rachel looked out in the hallway to see that the dome had broken under the pressure of gallons and gallons of water that had stored in the short time they were there, and the water was pouring at an alarming rate into the hallway.

"What's wrong?" Diehard asked when he saw Rachel's face go white. She quickly shut the door and sealed it with a magic spell.

"It won't last long, but maybe it will be over by then." Rachel said, placing her back up against the door.

"What won't last long, what's going on?" Seifer asked, walking away from the window. Suddenly, there was a loud rush of sound and the door began to go backwards into the room. Rachel let out a cry of fear as the door began to give way under the pressure of the water.

"Did the dome break?" Seifer then asked in fear.

"Luck guess." Rachel grunted as she tried to keep the door shut. Seifer and Cody backed up against the door, trying to hold it closed. They heard the rushing of the water that sounded like a whole ocean had flooded the area.

"How did all that water get in there?" Rachel asked in fear.

"_Water_?" Cody asked in surprise.

"The dome broke under the pressure of an ocean full of water. No amount of rain could have caused this." Rachel said. She gave a dramatic look at Seifer, "Do you think this is the work of a sorceress?"

"No," Seifer said, "Possibly a monster, but not a sorceress. They can't control seas to my knowledge."

"I heard different," Diehard suggested, "I heard only high degree ones can."

"There hasn't been a high degree one seen anywhere in the mapped area for centuries." Rachel said struggling to keep the door closed, as were Cody and Seifer were.

"Didn't you magically seal it?" Seifer asked.

"That only increases the strength on the door, my magic isn't advanced enough to full proof seal it," Rachel grunted, "And even if I did, the air would be sealed also, so we'd suffocate." Seifer flashed a glance at the window, which had water to a halfway mark.

"Unseal the door!" Seifer yelled.

"What?" Cody panicked, "Are you crazy?"

"The window is going to break and send water rushing in here. We've got to get out!" Seifer yelled.

"But what are we going to do, the water will swallow us!" Rachel said. Diehard remained silent. Seifer looked at him in horror.

"Can you walk?" He asked Diehard.

"Yes, but not for extended periods." Diehard said.

"Ok, you probably won't need to walk at all," Seifer said, "Just walk over here to the door. We're going to let it go and we'll have to swim for it." Rachel began to cry, the door hard on her back.

"Don't cry," Seifer said softly, "We need you to be strong for us." She nodded, sniffling. Diehard hopped his way over to a place where Seifer had brought him a shirt. He also found a pair of jeans, though he didn't know who they belonged to. He threw on his shirt that Seifer had given him so that he wasn't bare-chested.

"The bandage could rip off if the water is as strong as it seems." Diehard said. Seifer stripped off his jacket and belt, giving them to Diehard. Diehard put on Seifer's coat, then tightened the bet across his waist.

"Ok, ready?" Seifer asked, looking at his team. Water started to fill up the room, coming down from the vents. The window looked weak against the water, and no sooner did Seifer let the door push in did the window give way. The rushing water took control of the four students, forcing them all the way down the long halls. Seifer lost contact with everyone except for Diehard. He had grabbed his belt, and then fastened his palms underneath so he was hooked on. He couldn't see that well underwater, so he waited for the intensity of the water's rushing to go down before attempting to look around. Diehard could see. Seifer could only tell because he felt Diehard navigating. Eventually, the water seemed to go down in intensity, but only because the group had fallen out of a large broken window out of the hospital. Seifer and Diehard could now swim, and they looked at the town that was suddenly overcome by a flood. Water was not very high outside, but as the water poured in from the hospital, the level was rising. People were running all over the town, looking for some type of shelter.

"This place isn't even on the ocean," Cody said in confusion, "Where is the water _coming_ from?" With those words, the four soldiers looked up and saw a large monster sending water into the Hospital at a fast speed.

"That's the Transdekka!" Diehard shouted, "I thought that was a myth!" The monster was a long, snake-like monster with a smooth looking body. It was a deep blue, except for large crystals that lined its neck, in all different colors. It's head was large and it had two deep black eyes. On the sides of its heads were what looked like underdeveloped wings. It's body was covered in yellow spots that were dulled by the rain. Its mouth was long and sharp, its teeth showing as it shot the water from its mouth.

"Say what?" Cody asked loudly.

"The Transdekka was a monster in a book I was reading in Garden," Diehard explained, "Its said that the monster was actually a sorceress who's heart was broken by another sorceress who was more powerful than she. The sorceress' feelings of hate and revenge began to get control of her, turning her into a huge monster. She killed the sorcerer and she hated herself for killing the man she loved, so the monster now destroys places where there are high emotions, wherever they may be."

"Then why a hospital?" Rachel asked.

"I guess sad people are here or something." Seifer proposed.

"Who cares about that!" Cody exclaimed, "What are we going to _do_?"

"Is there anything in that book that says how to kill it?" Seifer asked impatiently.

"There was a spell, but its purely fictional," Diehard said, "It doesn't exist in real life."

"Maybe it does under a different name." Rachel proposed.

"But it's a combination of spells, some real some not, but that was the final sealence that would kill the monster and return her to a sorceress again."

"What did they all do?" Rachel asked, noticing the water level was rising to her ankles. Suddenly, bits of the glass from the dome began to fall around the four soldiers.

"Run and duck for cover!" Diehard shouted, running to find some kind of shelter. The group began to run, narrowly avoiding the glass pieces as they fell. A large sheet fell in front of Rachel, causing her to scream.

"Come on!" Seifer yelled, grabbing Rachel's hand and dragging her far from the hospital. Seifer then looked back, lifting up Diehard and carrying him along since he saw that he couldn't walk very well. The group reached a sturdy looking bank building, and tried the door.

"It's locked!" Rachel yelled as she pulled on the door.

"Move," Cody demanded, using a magic power to break the lock of the door, "Paying attention in Quistis' class has its upsides."

The four ran into the bank, seeing that all the workers there were startled by the door's opening. Seifer shut the door tightly and sealed it with a magic spell, a little more advanced than what Rachel did, but barely sufficient.

"Who are you people?" A worker asked in terror.

"We're SeeD's from Balamb Garden," Diehard said, looking around the room, "Have you working internet access?"

"Y-Yes." Another worker responded. He got Diehard situated on a computer behind a desk.

"This is hardly the time for you to check your e-mail!" Cody exclaimed.

"I'm going to try to find information about the spells in the book. If I try to see ones with the same effects, they could help vanquish the beast."

"Don't make yourself sound like King Arthur." Seifer said coldly.

"Stop!" Rachel yelled, beginning to cry, "We've got to work together."

"RACHEL NO!" Diehard yelled as he saw a small tear fall down the side of her face. Suddenly, the building began to rumble. Rachel shrieked, grabbing on to Seifer's arm. The rumbling continued until the top of the building was ripped clear off, the Transdekka looking down at the group and all the workers around them.


	7. 7

The monster looked at the scared people all around, its claws out and ready to snatch something.

"Holy shit!" Cody yelled, "Holy shit it's the end!" Seifer looked nervously around, Rachel crying harder with every second.

"STOP CRYING RACHEL!" Diehard yelled, "IT CAN SENSE YOUR SADNESS! IT WILL TRY TO KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T STOP!"

"FIGHT!" Seifer yelled, summoning a thundaga and using it to zap the Transdekka. The Transdekka let out a horrible roar of pain. Since it was using water as its main basis of fighting, its body's constitution was made of water at the moment. The thunder spread though the monster, temporarily paralyzing it.

"These thundagas will help stall the monster, but not for long," Seifer said loudly, "Cody, get these people to safety!" Cody nodded, starting to round up the workers from the office that had survived to go to a rumored safety cellar not far from the town.

"Let's go peoples, we've got our lives to save!" he yelled. He winked at Seifer on the way out.

"Diehard, keep researching as long as the internet upholds!" Seifer yelled across. As the monster began to regain its strength, Seifer cast another thundaga.

"Can do!" Diehard yelled, typing harshly on the keyboard. Seifer then looked at Rachel, who was trying desperately to keep her tears in. The rain beat down hard on the people in the building and there was a large amount of dust from the crashing on the top of the building that the monster dropped on the ground. Seifer moved to Rachel and held her close.

"I'm running out of magic power!" Seifer exclaimed as he had to increase his casting to pacify the monster. Rachel placed her hands on Seifer's shoulders, magically replenishing his magic supply. Seifer looked at her with soft eyes.

"It only lasts a while," she said softly. She then turned to Diehard, her hands still replenishing Seifer's supply.

"Find anything, Diehard?" Seifer yelled.

"I've made mental matches of two of the spells, but there is still one more conjunction spell, not to mention the main spell." Diehard explained.

"HURRY!" Rachel yelled, closing her eyes tightly. The monster seemed to be getting rid of its water content in order to not be so heavily fazed by the electric power that Seifer was summoning. Diehard then activated a forcefield around himself.

"It will last for 30 minutes. Hopefully I can do mental matches of the spells by then." Diehard shouted across. At his table where the computer was set up was a pad, where Diehard did probability tests about which mythical spell matched the best with the existing spells he knew.

Suddenly, the monster had gotten rid of enough water to cause the thundagas to no longer hurt it. The Transdekka took a swipe at the building, digging up the ground underneath them, giving way to a storage basement. Rachel nearly fell into the basement and was hanging on to the edge of the floor by her hands.

"HELP ME!" she shouted to Seifer. Seifer ran to lift her up, but the monster swiped again, causing Rachel to fall into the basement. Seifer looked in horror, knowing that if the monster had replenished its water supply that it could drown Rachel out in a few seconds with the power of the water.

"Hurry up, Diehard!" Seifer yelled.

"I got the third conjunctive spell, I think!" Diehard yelled, "Just need to make sense of the last one."

"What are the details, maybe I can help!" Seifer yelled. Rachel had located a ladder and was in the process of setting it up to climb up. The monster opened it mouth, trying to send a flow of water, but it had already shed it in attempts to top the magic. It let out a loud grunt, and then began to trudge over to the hospital, which was still very much flooded. The water from outside had began to pour into the building, also filling up the basement.

"Seifer grab the edge of the ladder!" Rachel yelled. Just as Seifer went to grab the ladder, the monster's large, spiked tail turned and smacked him right in the chest, sending Seifer flying into a remaining wall in the room.

"SEIFER!" Rachel shouted in fear. Diehard looked in horror, abandoning his computer. He ran to Seifer's side, seeing that one of the spikes had cut into his side. Seifer grunted, getting off the ground. Blood trailed from his lip and his body was bruised in some areas. Diehard tried to sit him up, but the pain was too strong. Seifer let out a loud cry in pain.

"We _have_ to get out of here!" Rachel exclaimed, "That monster is going to be back any minute! We can't fight that sort of thing!"

The monster was on its way back, its body wet and slimy from the water it had sucked up into its body. The Transdekka had the ability to suck up elemental compounds or molecules through its feet or its hands, then changing its atomic structure into that element. Since it happened to be raining in Dollet, that molecule was water.

"Seifer, you've got to try!" Rachel exclaimed. Seifer tried to get up, but the pain was too great. Blood was pouring onto his body, mixing with the water and turning it red."

"Leave." Seifer said weakly, "Save yourselves."

"NO!" Rachel yelled, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks.

"Don't cry!" Diehard yelled, "It attracts the monster!" Rachel then stood up and opened her eyes wide, the tears welling up in them. Then, without warning, she ran in the direction of the dragon.

"GET SEIFER TO SAFETY!" Rachel yelled back at Diehard.

"RACHEL, _NO_!" Diehard yelled, "She's not doing it! She can't! Oh my God she is!"

"What is she doing?" Seifer asked, his body slumping down against the wall.

"She's using her tears to attract the Transdekka to her," Diehard explained, "If she cried, the dragon will have compassion for her and protect her, but ultimately destroy her because she would remind the woman inside the Transdekka of her broken heart."

"Diehard, if you love me as you say you do you'll do your best to kill that monster before it kills Rachel." Seifer said, looking at Diehard in the eyes. Diehard nodded. The sky had become very dark from the rain, and since the monster was commanding the rain to come down harder, it was almost as if night had fallen.

"I think I can destroy the monster with the spells." Diehard said, "But they may be inaccurate." Seifer let out another cry in pain. Diehard ran to his side, but Seifer pushed him aside with the little power he had."

"Save her," Seifer said, "Because then you'll be saving me." Diehard closed his eyes, kissing Seifer on the lips for the last time, and then running to go save Rachel.

Rachel had gained the Transdekka's attention, and she was running and making the Dragon follow. She cried hard and bitter in attempts to lure the monster away from the town. Suddenly, Rachel reached a dead end against the gates that blocked off Dollet from the other towns. She backed up against the wall, crying as loud as she could. The monster slowly approached her, its eyes looking sincere. In their darkness, they began to look as if they were crying. Diehard had caught up to it, looking at it helplessly.

_This is it, _he thought, _It will look sad now, but then its sadness will turn to rage, and ultimately destroy her._

The monster's eyes still looked sad, and Rachel even saw a small, purple tear cry from the monster's eyes. As soon as the tear hit the monster's cheek, they eyes then turned angry. The monster focused the angry eyes on Rachel, who was screaming her heart out in fear. Her voice had a raspy quality that made it crack every time she screamed, irritating the monster.

"RACHEL STOP!" Diehard yelled helplessly, watching in horror. The monster lifted its large claw up in the air, ready to strike down Rachel. Rachel closed her eyes, waiting for her body to be ripped into shreds. Just as the monster was about to let its large claw rip apart Rachel's body, it received a sharp bullet to the back. Rachel opened her eyes, seeing a large fleet of Balamb soldiers behind the beast.

There was a large ship, followed behind by many small battleships. All of them fired at the monster. The monster turned around its tail started to go right towards Diehard.

"DIEHARD LOOK OUT!" Rachel called. Just in the nick of time, Diehard leaped out of the way and missed the tail by an inch. He looked up and saw Rachel's plastic sandals at his face. She lifted him up off the ground and watched as the fleet attacked the monster. The two of them ran as fast as they could to Seifer. They had to wade at a point to reach the bank building.

When they arrived, they saw that Seifer was up to his neck in water, just getting enough air to breathe. Rachel made a move to go get Seifer', but Diehard pushed his way ahead. He swam his way over to Seifer, who looked like he was in tremendous pain. Seifer was relieved to see Diehard.

"You came back?" Seifer asked in surprise.

"Shut up." Diehard said hastily, scooping Seifer up in his arms and waded his way out of the bank building. Just as Diehard made it out of the building, there was an eruption of fire not far from where they were standing. The group found out later that the Transdekka had struck a natural gas reserve, and when it attacked the fleet by shooting weak flames from its mouth, it ignited the fire. The rain didn't do much to stop it, since it was a gas fire.

"RUN!" Rachel said, helping Diehard as much as she could. They ran until they were behind a building that was a safe distance from the fire. Rachel's clothing stuck tight to her body, as Diehard's did. He put Seifer down on the ground, shedding his jacket, but refastening the belt. Suddenly, a stealthy looking plane landed close to the three.

Out of the plane emerged Quistis and Cody.

"I got the people in a safe place." Cody said, just as you said. Seifer smiled at him, but he was in a great amount of pain. Cody wasted no time in taking Seifer to the plane. Quistis was extremely scared for Seifer, but she was more focused on getting everyone to safety.

"The town has been evacuated for the most part, that monster was very much obsessed with you four," Quistis said hastily, "Cody informed me you knew of spells that could destroy the monster, what were they?"

"I don't know the spells, just fanciful references to actual spells." Diehard said.

"What are they; I can make sense of them." Quistis said in haste.

"The spells were described as the first shimmers like diamonds, the second collapses like the weight of the world, the third is the violence by word of mouth, and the fourth is the crushed form of love. All of these together should kill it." Diehard explained. Quistis looked nervously at the planes, some of which had crashed down by the hands of the monster.

"'Shimmers like diamonds' is most definitely a snow magic, the collapses like the weight of the world is a paralyzing spell," Quistis brainstormed, "violence by word of mouth could be the highest level of fire blasts, for insults are flames." Diehard nodded in agreement, surprised at Quistis' stunning ability to examine literature.

"The last one could only be the spell Angel Blast, but I've yet to meet someone who can do it." Quistis said. Rachel, listening, ran over to Quistis and Diehard, the rain pouring down hard.

"I can do it." She said hastily.

"You?" Quistis asked in surprise, "But how?"

"I just can, trust me." Rachel said.

"We can power the three conjunction spells into her, so when she sends out the last one the monster will have died." Diehard said. Rachel looked at Quistis, biting her bottom lip.

"Ok," Quistis said solemnly. Diehard was the first to summon the snow spell, placing his hands on Rachel's shoulders and powering her up. She glowed a light blue for a moment, but then returned to normal. Then Quistis powered her up with the paralyzing spell, that made Rachel glow a yellowish color for a while, but then again, she returned to normal. Quistis also powered her with the fire spell that caused Rachel's skin to become slightly burnt.

"Ok, go out there," Diehard said, "We're depending on you."

Rachel ran up to the monster as close as she could get with the fire blocking her way. She inhaled deeply, praying to herself that she could successfully summon the Angel Blast. She lifted her hands up in the air, shouting the incantation to summon the Angel Blast. With the words, the sky went to darkness around her. The monster turned around, staring at Rachel.

First, a blue spell exited Rachel's body, then the yellow spell, and then the red spell. The spells, which looked like light beams, spun around Rachel's head until she was fully illuminated in bright, blinding light. Rachel's hair moved wildly in response to the light. The light around her slowly began to turn pink, until it shown a light pink around her body. Soon the spells stopped moving around her body. The monster was about to attack Rachel, but before it could move the blue ice attack was sent out at the monster, freezing it solid. The second paralyzing attack broke through the ice, causing the ice that had frozen the monster to crack, and badly paralyze the monster. The fire magic was then cast, burning the monster so that it let out a loud, horrifying scream

Quistis and Diehard watched in awe as this event went on. It was only rumored that the spells existed, and only those of superior knowledge of spells and magic could accomplish it. Rachel was known to not be a very concentrated student at Balamb garden and was by no means a scholar in the spells or magic fields. Seifer and Cody watched from the inside of plane. Seifer couldn't see much because he was so weak from the injury, but Cody's light blue eyes stared in amazement and disbelief.

Finally, Rachel spread her arms and legs out, causing a bright light to engulf the whole area, making the day bright as the morning. The monster screamed its loud, high pitched screech as it was slowly defeated by the Angel Blast beam that Rachel had shot. Flowers surrounded the monster until it was diminished into a woman, on her knees and covered in rags, crying into her hands. Her long brownish-blonde hair was to the side of her body, reaching down to her waist.

Diehard ran over to the young woman, seeing that she was just as the book had described. Diehard scooped the woman up in his arms and held her close

"All I wanted was for him to love me," the woman cried, "And he had to go break my heart." The woman looked at Diehard with sad eyes and caused tears to come to his.

"It's all I wanted." She whispered, and with those words, her body turns slowly into a light pink powder until she blew away in the wind. Diehard looked around at the destruction and the battle fighters, who were being told to retreat back to Garden. He noticed Rachel, who had fainted because of the strong magic she had used. He walked slowly and scooped her in her arms, walking back.

"We've finished here." Diehard said softly to Quistis as he went back into the plane. He laid Rachel next to Seifer, who had also passed out because of the pain. He looked at their two lifeless bodies, and painfully accepted the reality of their love. Cody looked at him with wide eyes, understanding at that instant everything about what Diehard felt about Seifer. The undeniable look of love was in Diehard's eyes, and Cody knew it wasn't for Rachel

"Man," he said, overwhelmed, "I am so sorry." Cody crawled over to Diehard and looked at him.

"Why couldn't you just tell me?" Cody asked softly, "You didn't think I'd understand?"

"No." Diehard said coldly. Cody returned back to Seifer's body, keeping his head down and not saying anything.

"How can you blame me?" Diehard asked angrily, "You are the most homophobic kid I've ever met."

"But not for my friends!" Cody yelled back. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Not for my brothers."

* * *

Back at Garden, Seifer and Rachel were placed in the infirmary. Seifer's injury wasn't serious, but he did need to have more than 50 stitches in order to seal up the wound the monster inflicted on him. Rachel didn't suffer any actual damage, but her body had a breakdown from the awesome use of magic. Diehard stayed in the hospital with them the entire night, studying Seifer's listless expression along with Rachel's.

Rachel awoke the next morning at about seven A.M., thinking it was all a bad dream. She lifted her head up, expecting to find a dormitory, but instead, finding the infirmary.

"What am I doing here?" She asked drowsily, looking at Diehard, "And what are you doing here?"

"You don't remember what happened?" Diehard asked in shock, thinking maybe Rachel suffered amnesia. Rachel said nothing, her face going white. She looked across at a shade covering another hospital bed. She jumped off her bed, running and pulling the curtain aside. She cried instantly when she saw Seifer sleeping.

"He's dead?" She asked in horror. Diehard approached her, tapping her on the shoulders to comfort her.

"He's just sleeping. He had to get some work done on him, but he's ok." Diehard reassured. Rachel looked at him with sad eyes.

"I remember the whole thing," She confessed, "I just wished so badly it was a dream that I think I began to believe it for a minute." She looked down at her plastic sandals.

"Is that wrong?" She asked Diehard, looking up at him.

"No," Diehard said, "We wish things sometimes, but we can't hate ourselves for things we wish...or think." He closed his eyes, thinking about how he had hated himself for being in love with Seifer. He looked at Seifer's body and then at Rachel.

"I do love him," Rachel said, moving back from Diehard, "I will always love him until the day that I die. Never again will I put his life in danger."

"I don't think you're putting him in danger at all," Diehard said, "In fact, if it weren't for you, Seifer, and Cody, I would have been dead right now. You came just at the right time to save my sorry ass."

"I acted out," Rachel said, "I could have died if those Balamb guys didn't arrive."

"Seifer said that if I saved you I'd be saving him," Diehard said, "He loves you, and you love him." His lip quivered softy. He bit it, his eyes welling up.

"Be happy." He managed to get out, before his tears came streaming down his face. He rushed out of the infirmary in shame.

Seifer awoke to see Rachel hovering before him. He smiled at her, happy to see that she was alive and well.

"Seifer," she said softly, "Do you feel alright?"

"I'm feeling fine." Seifer said, even though his stomach hurt because of the stitches. He looked up at the ceiling and let everything in his life culminate. He thought of the night after the whole ultimecia incident had occurred and how bad he felt. He thought about Selphie, Summer, and Quistis, especially, and how they all worked their ways in and out of his life for better or for worse. He thought of how he had once envied Squall and Rinoa for their love, but once he had experienced love wished that it was as easy as Rinoa and Squall made it seem. He had not been there through their emotional journey, just as they had not been through his. Seifer figured it took a large monster and a perilous situation to show who truly loved you and who you truly loved back. He thought of Diehard, and how strong his love for him was. He respected Diehard more than any other individual he knew, and he would have willingly died for him. He knew that Diehard hurt about Seifer not loving him back, but he could not lead Diehard on if he did not truly love him as a lover. Seifer wished so bad that he could make Diehard happy, but his heart was not in the position to be a lover to Diehard, which pained him for the rest of his life. He thought of Cody, his comical brother who had helped him through his hard times even when Seifer wasn't willing to listen to him. All these people culminated in Seifer's mind, finally striking him with all the events that had happened within the past month since he had helped Edea try to take over the world. He had been dramatically changed by it, and the change was something that he could not just simply revert back from. The change was permanent, and he had people and events to keep him in check if he ever was to turn back. He thought of the musical box that he had given Quistis, which played the song he knew all too well. Seifer thought of the song and smiled.

"Can you open the shades? It's kind of dark in here."


End file.
